Murder House: The Story Continues
by ExplicitFreakinContent
Summary: {au, changes made to end of Murder House, Tate x oc} When Ben Harmon left his little sister Francesca and her 17 year old daughter Tessa Murder House, he thought they'd sell the place or something. But what happens when instead of selling the place, as per her brother's last wishes, Francesca moves herself and her daughter into the house? This is the continuation of Murder House
1. Chapter 1

_Prologue_

_A Brother's Last Wish_

_Francesca, _

_If you're reading this, then you've just left my funeral, and neither Vivian or Violet remain to do this for me. I've always taken care of you and Tessa, kiddo. This is me taking care of you two one last time.. I know, I know.. You're sitting there saying you don't want anything I could possibly give you guys, and that you're doing fine on your own, the clothing line is doing better than you thought._

_I also know that if someone doesn't do something, kiddo, that damn house is gonna continue to suck the life out of anyone who lives in it. It's a money pit, a trap. I want you to sell the house and take the money, expand your business. Hell, take a cruise with it for all I care, sis. But do not, and I repeat, do not, under any circumstances, live in the damn place. It's a lemon from the ground up, trust me. It's not safe for you and Tessa. I don't want you two living I do want you two to be taken care of now that I'm gone. Selling that house? _

_It'll bring in more than enough money for you guys, you can expand your clothing line, Tessa can take more dance classes, hell, there might even be enough there to put up for her college one day._

_The point is this, sis.. You're the owner of that damn hellhole now. Sell it and do not look back. Because living in it will cost you more than the place is worth. I speak from experience, baby sister._

_Love you both,_

_Benjamin_

–

_The above letter was found in the hospital room of Dr. Benjamin Harmon. His body was found hanging in his private bathroom. The police ruled it cut and dry suicide. After all, he did just lose his teenage daughter Violet and his pregnant wife Vivian and their unborn twins in this very hospital._

_It was mailed to Francesca Harmon – McLane after it's discovery, through Ben's attorney, and shortly after, the real estate agent of the house, Marcy, got in touch with Francesca at her home in Houston, Texas._

_The events that happened after are where the real story is.. Because there wouldn't be a story, would there, if little sister had just taken big brother's advice and let the house go up for sale, taken the money made from it, used it to expand her growing clothing line and the ezine she co editored from home._

_I'll spare you the lengthy introduction this time, but this story? It's pretty damn weird, so bare with me here._

_It's mostly about me, Tess, and how living in Murder House affected me.. But like I said.. I'm Tess McLane and this is my story._

_If you're curious as to whether this actually has a happy ending, or it's all doom and gloom, well then by all means.. Keep right on reading._

_But I warn you, it's not all peaches and cream._

–

Tess peered over her sunglasses at the house that lie on the other side of the black wrought iron privacy gate as she exhaled quietly, muttered to herself over the pounding bass music from her car's stereo, "Damn.. I think I see why Uncle Ben wanted mom to specifically sell this thing.. It cannot be livable, there's no way."

She came to a stop beside an ancient call box near the tall and stately wrought iron privacy gate, and pressed it, waiting on the gates to open. They did seconds later, slowly, almost agonizingly slow, actually.

A shiver passed over her body and she came to a stop beside her mother's parked SUV, got out, eyeing the house warily.

Up close it looked even creepier than it had on the other side of the gate. For a split second, as her warm brown eyes looked at the second floor's bay window, she could've sworn she saw the curtain move. She rubbed her eyes after sliding her shades up into her long black hair, and then muttered "It was the wind, had to be." her Texas drawl coming out slow, soft.

From the doorway of the house, her mother called out, "Did you finally get here?"

"I stopped at the mall on the way in, Mom. Had to get something to sleep in." Tessa stated as her mother waved excitedly, practically bouncing on the balls of her feet, "Well? Don't just stand there, Tessa, come inside. Let's have a look around the place?"

"Mom.. Uncle Ben specifically said to sell this turd. Not to go in it, look around, fall in love with it and wind up living in it. If he didn't want us living here, there had to be a reason." Tess pointed out patiently, as her mother said "Your uncle was always overprotective.. It's actually in great shape, all things considered. Just come look?"

"Ughh, fine. I still agree with Uncle Ben's letter. We need to sell it and go." Tessa murmured as she slunk towards the house, flicking a cigarette down, stubbing it out on her way in, quickly, so her mother didn't see it.

She stood in the entrance of the house, looked around, brow raised.. The house was obviously in the early stages of renovation, it had been repainted, refloored.. Why would her uncle start on a renovation and never finish it?

That didn't seem like the uncle Ben who'd been like a father to her for at least 90 percent of her early childhood when she and her mother were living with him and her aunt Vivian. She trailed her fingers slowly through her long black hair as she muttered quietly, "Okay, so it's not that bad in here..."

She sat her two Victoria's Secret bags down in the hallway, along with the oversized black leather purse and ventured down the hallway just a little farther. She peered into the kitchen, looked around and smiled a little. She could almost see her aunt Vivian in there now, cooking something she'd just seen the recipe for on television. Her aunt had been really adventurous like that sometimes.

Unfortunately, a lot of her little 'adventures' well.. They hadn't actually panned out well, as far as the kitchen went. Like Tessa's own mother, the woman hadn't been the greatest cook around. Tessa, however, even at 17 knew her way around a kitchen. So she wouldn't starve if she had to depend on herself to get the cooking done.

"Not bad." she said quietly, walking out of the kitchen, into the back hallway, what would've been the 'servants entrance' in the 20's when the house had been built. A rubber ball rolled slowly across the floor just outside what must have been the door leading down to the lower basement level of the house, stopping at her feet.

She looked around warily, bent down and picked up the little red ball, bounced it before throwing it out in front of her and into the darkness. A shiver passed over her arms again and she shook her head, turned around.

It almost felt like she were being watched right now.

"Must have been the wind or a rat or something.. It's an old house, it's gonna have insects and mice and ughhh.. I'm gonna go back into the main part of the house now." she said as she grimaced at the thought of spiders and mice.

She was the girly one.. her cousin Violet had been the more tough one of the two of them. Sometimes, it almost seemed like Violet had been sort of cold. She often called Tessa the family 'drama queen'.

For the most part, it was true.. Or it used to be. Lately, though, Tess was maturing, she was sort of coming into her own, finding her way in life. She wasn't overconfident, but she wasn't anywhere near as sensitive as she'd been when she was smaller.

And if she had to say it? She was turning out pretty damn tough. And good.

Her mother called her name and she called out just outside the hallway she'd just come off of, "Yeah? I'm down here, Mom. What's up?"

"The realtor is here." her mother said as Tessa said quietly, "And? Seriously? Why talk to her?"

She grumbled as her mother called her name again, this time a hint of warning in her tone. She didn't want to make her mother angry or anything, so she bit her tongue on her thoughts on the place so far, and made her way out into the parlor where the two women sat, talking quietly.

"So if we want this place.. It's free and clear?" Francesca McLane asked as she looked at the plain and pudgy realtor named Marcy.

"Your brother paid for it up front. As you can see, Ms. McLane, he's done a lot of work to the place. He sent you a letter I heard?" Marcy asked, biting her lower lip. She hated being the realtor for this house, it kept her in far more hot water than it was worth. If she could get the single mother to take this house off her hands, she could finally wash her hands of the damn place, once and for all.

She'd almost managed to do it with Ben and his family, after they'd bought the place. But then he'd decided that the house was pure evil, that it's reputation was enough cause to move out.

Tessa sat down, eyed the plain and pudgy woman and then spoke up quietly, "Mother.. Uncle Ben wants us to sell the place. Not to live in it. I know what you're thinking.. But I'm about to be in my last year of high school.. I really have no interest in starting over this late in high school."

"There are excellent schools." Marcy started, the girl giving her a firm glare as she said calmly, "But they're not my old school with my old friends and my cheer squad. I'd have to start over again and I've got no interest in doing that. At all."

"At least let the woman talk, Tess." her mother started, giving her daughter a firm and commanding stare which Tess returned, her hand on her hip. "Don't give me that look Tessa Marie. I'm the parent here, not you. If I think a move is best, then we'll move." Francesca said as she turned her attention back to the realtor and asked "Are there any papers?"

"I happen to have them in my briefcase. Would you like to look them over?" the realtor asked as Tess grumbled and stood, storming out of the room quietly. Outside, she sat on the stone wall that went around a sort of breezeway just outside the kitchen's French doors, lighting a cigarette, fuming while swearing aloud.

"You're gonna die here." a girl said as she stepped out, making Tess drop her lit cigarette on her bare thigh in shock. Tess gaped a moment and then said quietly, "Nope, not if I have my way about it. If she moves us here, I swear to God.. I'm going to completely rebel."

Addie studied the girl carefully and then asked "What's your name?"

"Tessa. What's yours?" Tess asked as she exhaled deeply, leaned her head back against a stone column leading up to the roof, supporting the stone wall she currently sat on.

"Addie." Addie answered quietly as she said again, "You're gonna die here. They all die here." before walking away, around the corner, vanishing into thin air once she was out of eyesight. She'd tried to warn them, if they didn't listen, there was nothing she could really do. She'd crossed over, after all, she could only visit here now and then, and she only did so when she sensed that her mother was lonely.

Or she felt like seeing her brother or the twins that were stuck in the house because they'd died there and hadn't been able to cross over. She wished that Violet had died there, so Tate, her brother, would have some company in the house, he'd really, really liked Violet, but sadly, she'd died in the hospital after an attempt to purge her system of the pills she'd taken.

So Tate was alone again, and now, since Addie was among the few ghosts crossed over, her mother, Constance was alone too. And as much as Addie disliked her mother and brother in life, the girl also cared and worried about them in life and in death.

Maybe this girl would stay and she'd be different than Violet.

Tess flicked her ashes onto the ground and grumbled, resting her head against her knee as she wound her fingers through her thick and long black hair, biting her lower lip. She slid out her phone, glared at it when she saw a text from this jerk of a guy she'd been dating a while now named Tim.

Apparently, he was at some party, a party she'd been invited to, but naturally, her mother dragged her all the way out here so now she was missing it.

She sighed quietly, slid the phone back into her pocket as she muttered "Ten bucks says he fucks another girl. And then I'm beyond done with his shit. I should've already dumped him." while scooting off the wall, standing, stretching.

She looked around the backyard and said quietly, "It's not that bad of a house.. I mean it is free, and it is closer to the home office for Mom's design company.." while looking up again at the second story bay window, blinking again as she saw the curtains swaying as if she'd been watched.

"That shit's creepy though. Maybe Mom or that realtor opened a window." Tess said as she slunk back into the house.

Upstairs, in the room that the curtain just moved in, Tate Langdon stood there, peering down into the yard, a scowl on his face. He'd heard the talking downstairs so he knew who the two females were.

Or he knew enough about them for now.. The 17 year old with the killer body and the long black hair, however.. He only knew one thing about her.. He wanted her. He had to have her. She was going to be his, one way or another.

If he wasn't going to be with Violet, then he'd just take the next best thing. Her cousin, Tess. In a far corner of the room, Violet's shape slowly came into focus and she said quietly, " She needs someone to protect her."

Tate glared a moment and then asked in a hostile tone, "Don't you have an afterlife to get to? You left me, remember?"

"Tate, you raped my mother. You indirectly caused my father's death and you would've let me die in this damn house if my father hadn't found me the night I overdosed. But I know you loved me. I know you were changing whether you want to admit it or not. I just.. I couldn't be with you in the end, you did too much to my family."

"Yet you hint about your cousin.."

"Technically, Tate.. I'm crossed over.. I can only come and go here and there. I'm in your head. So this is really nothing more than you rationalizing your wanting her for yourself." Violet said quietly as she bit her lower lip, looked at him. She'd loved him once.. Then everything he'd done in life and in death came out and she'd had to do something, distance herself from that.

And she realized too late just how much her loving him had changed him for the better. Now they were stuck on completely different realms and she just wanted him to be happy and to get closure.

And she wanted someone to watch over her cousin Tess, because if she were seeing right, Tess was getting in over head with these new 'older' friends of hers in Texas. It worried Violet even if she and Tess hadn't ever exactly been the closest.

She disappeared and Tate picked up a paperweight from what used to be his desk and threw it at the spot she'd vanished from. "Damn it Violet. I loved you more than anyone else. Even myself." he called out, wiping at his eyes, angry at himself.

The door opened a few minutes later and the leggy raven haired girl walked in with two Victoria's Secret bags and a large purse, all of which she sat on the desk. He watched her intently as she walked around his old room, peeking here and there, looking in the closet.

At one point, he was almost chest to chest with her and he could smell the vanilla perfume she wore as she looked into his bathroom mirror, reapplied her cotton candy scented pink lipgloss and said aloud, "Okay, so this place isn't that bad.." as if she were trying to convince herself that moving here wouldn't be the worst thing that'd happened to her in her whole life.

His hand reached out, trailed slowly along her cheek. She gasped as if she'd felt something and ran from the room screaming in an almost deafening high pitch as the Nicki Minaj song she'd been listening to on her phone continued to assault his ears.

"Damn it.. She could've at least turned that shit off." Tate swore as he picked up the hot pink phone and peered at it in curiousity. He knew a little about how to work them thanks to Violet, but her phone wasn't set up exactly like Violets had been either.

After a few moments of nosing around on it, he threw it down onto the bed, bored. Then he walked towards the pink shopping bags and started to dig through them, holding up bras, panties, looking at the size of the bras, looking at the fabric, raking his hand through his hair as he muttered "Well then.. So you two were like night and day. If you were night Violet.. She's day, right?"

From the distance, he heard Violet's laugh and he grumbled, shoved the bras and panties, the pajama set back into one of the bags. He dug through the girls purse next, dumping out a makeup bag, a pack of cigarettes with a silver Zippo that had a Playboy bunny logo stamped on it, a name engraved below it.

The same loopy and hardly readable but elegant scrawl was on the bottom of a receipt in the purse and he finally figured out that it said "Tess."

"Tess." he repeated the name, smirking as he did so.

Tess tried telling her mother what'd just happened upstairs but her mother just laughed it off and then said "Do whatever you want, sweetheart, but I think this move will do us both a lot of good. And this house is free. The other house we're living in.."

"Mom.. I don't care how small the other house in Riggins is.. I'd rather live in the 9th ring of hell than I would here. I'm telling you, Mom, something fucking touched my face up there!" as her mother turned to the realtor and said "Kids, huh?"

"I'm not a child, mom and I'm not lying. There is something in this motherfucking house." Tess stated as she turned on her heel, walked out of the room, slamming a door or two in her wake. By 9 pm that night, her mother was on the phone with movers, and they were preparing to be moved in by that weekend.

And Tess glared at her mother the entire time, arms crossed, none too happy about it. She ducked out to smoke and for a few moments, she could almost swear she heard her dead cousin calling her name, whispering something about how being here wasn't going to be so bad, how she needed this to happen she just didn't realize that yet.

Tess plugged her ears and then exhaled smoke, standing, crushing out the cigarette in a hurry before walking back inside. "I'm sorry Mom."

"It's okay, Tess. I'm not mad at you, I'd have done the same thing at your age. I know it's hard, but we only have each other. And if we move here? I don't have to fly out here for 2 or 3 weeks every new season, whenever the company's ready to launch a new line for a new season. I'll get more time with you. And you might get away from those friends of yours. I worry about you, you know, being around those older kids, especially the boys." her mother said as she sighed.

Tess sank down in a plum velvet chaise lounge and said "In that case, I've picked my room."

"Not the master I hope.. I call dibs on that one, did you see the tub?"

"Nope.. The smaller room it's got the bay window? And it's own attached bathroom?"

"Not Violet's old room?"

"God no. That'd be morbid, Mom."

"Okay. So we're good? You're not going to give me hell about this?"

"One condition.. We have this place exorcised." Tess said quietly as her mother groaned and said "It was probably just the wind Tess."

"Mother, it felt like a fucking hand."

"Tess, I'm telling you.. It was just the wind."

Tess grumbled and then said quietly, "Going to bed now, Mom."

"If you get scared again, Tessa, just come into the room I'm in." her mom called out as Tess said calmly, "Okay." then disappeared up the stairs.

Francesca looked around the house and sighed. Maybe this move would be good for both of them. She felt closer to her brother here, she could sort of feel him in the house. They'd always been really close.

She sighed again and stood, said to herself "Maybe he's not too pissed at me right now.. I never was very good at listening to him.. But this place is renovated, it's closer to the company's main office, it's got too many pros to pass up." as she walked up the stairs and into the room she'd chosen earlier.

In another day their own things would start arriving. And this house would become their new home.


	2. Chapter 2

_The House Is Out To Get Me_

_.. Or Is It?_

The breeze blowing through a partially open window, a window she specifically remembered shutting before going to bed woke her the next morning and she sat up, rubbing her eyes, the sheet curled around her barely dressed form.

She sniffed the air and smelled pancakes. But not just any pancakes, chocolate chip pancakes. Sliding on the pale pink satin pajama pants and a light gray cashmere sweater over her camisole tanktop she made her way down the stairs, stopped at the doorway of the kitchen, listening.

She could hear voices, she heard her mother talking to someone. Peeking in, her mother said with a smile to a blonde woman who looked sort of like one of those 50's Hollywood types, "And here she is now. The ray of sunshine." placing a steaming mug of hot chocolate into Tess's hands.

"Tess, this is our neighbor Constance. Constance, this is my daughter Tess." Francesca said as Constance Langdon eyed the girl then said "It's nice to meet you. Your mother tells me you're moving here from Texas?"

Tess sat down in one of the kitchen table's dark wood and leather upholstered chairs, sipped her hot chocolate before answering quietly, "Unfortunately, yes." as her mother sighed and said quietly, "What happened to you being okay with it?"

"That was before I woke up this morning, mother, found the god damn bedroom window wide open. The room was freezing."

"Maybe you didn't shut it before bed last night? I heard you in there around 3, saw the glow off of that laptop of yours.. If you didn't get into bed until after 3, you had a late night. Maybe you just forgot." her mother pointed out as Tess gave her a blank look and then asked, "What do you mean, Mom? I was in bed by 12 at the latest. My laptop is actually still down in my car. No Wifi here, remember?"

Her mother stared at her a moment then shook her head, muttered something and then spoke up to say "It's probably nothing.. Maybe you left the light on and the window open when you fell asleep and forgot." holding her gaze.

Constance watched the girl with veiled interest, the words from her best friend, renowned psychic Billie Dean ringing in her ears. Tess glared a moment then muttered quietly, "Whatever.. So are the movers coming today or is that too much to ask of them?"

"They're on their way now, actually." her mother answered as Tess looked up and then said to their neighbor, " My uncle specifically tells her to sell this place. She's gotten it in her head that we can actually live here."

"She's your mother, maybe she's got a good reason." Constance said, amused gleam in her eye as Tess looked at her mother and then said quietly, "Sorry, it's just.. Two things have happened in a little under a day, mother.. There is something really, really weird about this house."

"It's just an old house. There will be drafts, settling noises at night, mice and insects." her mother said as she added "And we're moving here, it's final."

"Fine." Tess grumbled as she stood, stretched and then asked "Who made pancakes.. I thought I smelled pancakes before I came down."

Her mother raised a brow now and then asked quietly, "What do you mean you smelled pancakes.. You know we don't have any food here, the food that was here from when your uncle owned the place was all thrown out."

"Okay then." Tess muttered as she raked her hands through her hair, studied the two women carefully, Constance saying "Maybe you just wanted pancakes, hon."

Tess walked out of the room mimicking the woman in her mind as she turned the hallway, caught sight of a figure in all black moving further down the hall. She took off after it at a run but when she turned another corner, it vanished as if it weren't ever there.

"Right, mother.. This house is just fucking fine." Tess grumbled as she gritted her teeth and stumbled her way back through a darkened hallway, using her zippo as a lighter. She heard it loud and clear as she walked back past the basement. _Tess.. Come in here Tess.. You know you want to.._

She gaped at the door, her hand over her mouth to keep from screaming, her mother was already giving her a strange look since the whole thing just now about the touch last night, the window she knew she shut being open when she woke up.. And then she ran like hell, counting to ten, slamming the door that seperated that part from the rest of the house behind her as she leaned against the wood, panting for breath.

"What the fucking hell was that? I heard my name. Who the hell was callin it though?" Tess muttered to herself as she caught her breath, emerged into the main hallway of the house, shook off whatever just happened.

Because she wasn't crazy. There was something screwy going on right now and she wasn't entirely sure if she liked where living in this house, especially considering her uncle Ben specifically told them not to live in it, to sell it and get the hell away from it for good in his letter.

But, of course, her mother wasn't ever a big listener.

"There you are sweetheart. Where'd you get off to?" her mother asked, making her jump at least a mile in the air. She eyed her mother's handbag and the keys in her hand and then asked "Where are you going?"

"Going to check in with the company. Going to tell them that I'm living here now, see if they're going to let me keep working from home and shipping my designs or if they want me to actually come into the studio and work. I hope they'll say work from home." her mother stated as Tess's eyes went wide and she shook her head.

"Tess. Don't start that crap with me again, okay?" her mother pleaded as Tess muttered quietly, "Fine. But don't say I didn't warn you this place was bad news." before retreating up to her room which she realized was probably the only room she felt reasonably safe in, despite the touching incident the night before.

With the door shut, Tess said calmly, "Listen up.. Whatever you are, I'm not here to harm anything or anybody. I don't.. I don't actually wanna be here.. I'd rather be back in Riggins, getting ready for another school year with my friends in my house.. Let's just try and compromise?" as she squeezed her eyes shut, bit her lower lip.

From behind her, Tate muttered calmly, _'Would you relax? If I wanted to hurt you, Tess.. I'd have strangled you in your sleep last night as you lie there, tossing and turning, moaning aloud.. What were you dreaming about?' _into her ear. Tess whirled around and for a split second, in the full length mirror that hung inside the closet on the door, she caught sight of a guy around her own age with a mop of curly blondish brown hair, the warmest brown eyes she'd ever seen.

Then he disappeared, leaving her scowling at the mirror, flopping down onto the bed in annoyance. She turned on her radio, checked her texts and grumbled to herself about their new house.

If she didn't have to wait on the movers and the cable company, there was no way in hell she'd be sticking around here today, she knew that much for certain. The disembodied voice and it's cryptic veiled threat sent a shiver down her arms and over her back and she rolled over onto her back and groaned aloud "Fuck my life right now."

Here she was, stuck in a house that might or might not be haunted, depending on whether she chose to believe in such stupidity or not. Sure the girl loved her ghost stories, loved a good séance and ghost hunting expedition, but she just wasn't sure how she felt about LIVING in a place where there might just be ghosts.


	3. Chapter 3

**_{ A/N : Ohmigosh, thanks for the review! And for all the adds I've gotten since I posted the rewrite. Sorry if this one seems to drag so much more slowly, but I'm trying to set up the mood and tone.  
_**

**_Anyway, thanks again for the support guys, I hope you like this story!}_**

* * *

_Seven Devils All Around You_

Tess eyed the clock on the wall. She grumbled as she caught sight of the time, realized that apparently, her workaholic mother was already starting her new job. "And of course, go off and leave me here in this shithole where I know absolutely no-one Mother. Parenting.. You're doing swell." Tess muttered snarkily as she rubbed her arms at the sudden chill in the room, sat up on the high back velvet sofa in the parlor peering around in curiousity.

"I need a drink." she mumbled as she stretched, pulled herself up from the sofa, paused the movie she'd been watching, Captain America, and peered out into the hallway because she'd just heard giggling. "Who's out there?" she called out, eyeballing the front door. "Mom if you're fucking around with me it's not funny!" she called again as she heard more giggling. Growing annoyed, she grabbed one of the heavy antique statuaries from a side table in the hallway and stepped fully into the hallway, looking up it and then down it.

"I'm completely and totally serious. I will kick your ass if someone's in here with me right now. This shit is not funny. Mom, if you're trying to make fun of what happened to me earlier, haha, real mature.. You can come out now..." she said in an attempted commanding tone, her voice wavering just a little as she finished her statement.

_'Right, because that sounded so scary, Tess.' _the disembodied voice came out of seemingly nowhere, further freaking her out. Her hands shook and she dropped the statuary she was holding, whirling around in the hallway as the voice continued _'You won't see me until I want you to. But I can see you.. Nice pajamas by the way.. Guessing Uncle Ben didn't know about that little rose tattoo on your hip? Or the drinking habit? But I do.. I know pretty much everything about you, actually.'_

"Oh, that's fucking it. Look, bud, you might get your fucking jollies, you might get your rocks off by playing Peeping Tom, but trust me, asshole.. When I find you? And I will find you.." she said in a clipped and harsh angry tone as she smirked and raked her hands through her hair before continuing, "You won't like what happens to you. Look, I might look like some frail and weak little helpless female, but trust me, bud.. You do not wanna fuck with me."

_'Actually, Tess, you're right. I don't wanna fuck with you. I kinda just wanna fuck you.I think you'd enjoy it, actually.' _Tate said from behind her as he trailed his lips slowly down the back of her neck, teeth baring down in the soft flesh. He smirked as she gasped and paled, then swore, her hand going up to the spot on her neck he'd just made with his biting her. _'Oh you liked it.. Don't even try to stand there and pretend that you're not dripping wet right now.' _he whispered as she swung her arms wildly, trying to connect with anything that might have bitten her.

He smirked as he stepped back, watched her continue fighting nothing but air, shook his head as he laughed and disappeared to his basement safe zone.

He'd left enough visible proof that what they had was going to happen one way or another, whether she wanted it, or she had to be coerced, which he wasn't above doing if he had to.

If his mom's new age psychic friends were right, this Twin Flame bullshit was really happening this time, and not Violet but Tess was the true Twin Flame to his own.

"At least she's got a little fight. I mean she's not Violet, she's not who I really wanted.. But we kinda need each other or something." he mused as he paced the basement hallway.

Upstairs, Tess stood in the kitchen, using an unpacked toaster to examine the bite mark on her neck, the red welps being bitten had created. "Fuck this.. This is not Twilight and I'm not fucking weak ass lame Bella. I'm gonna find out what's going on here and when I do? I'm calling a motherfucking exorcist." Tess said nervously as she caught sight of their blonde female neighbor standing in the doorway that lead into the kitchen from the backyard as she stood there looking amused, smoking a cigarette.

"What on Earth are you doin?" Constance asked as Tess walked over, pulled her long dark hair to the side, showing the woman the bite mark. "Something just fuckin bit me. Proof enough this fuckin house wants to kill us?" she asked with a smug look as Constance looked at her and then lied saying calmly, "I don't see a damn thing girl. Where's your mama? I told her I'd come by, we seemed to get along when I came over earlier." as she scanned the room for her son Tate, wondering just what he'd done to rattle the poor girl standing in front of her.

She felt sorry for her, her son had a bad habit of coming on way too strong, it'd already cost him Violet, who he'd loved dearly and still hadn't quite gotten over. But if what the psychic she'd befriended told her was true.. Then this girl was the true other half to her son's whole.

For a moment Tess glared at the woman's turned back, then she said quietly, "No, she's working. Of course. That's all she ever does is work. Sometimes I.."

"You what, hon?" Constance asked with a moment's concern for the girl. She could sense the tension between mother and daughter earlier when she'd watched them interact, she wished everyday that she had her own daughter back, and she had this feeling that when everything that needed to happen actually happened to bring Tate and Tess together, the girl's mother was going to have a really, really hard time grieving if she didn't start at least trying to spend more time with her little girl now while she had her.

"Nothing.. It's bad, I don't wanna say it, I mean I know it isn't true, it's just..." Tess said as Constance sat down, lit up a cigarette, holding the pack out to her, lighting her cigarette for her, saying with a small mischevious smile, "You slip out at night to smoke in that gazebo, I've seen you. No worry, I won't tell."

"Won't matter, I'm pretty sure she knows by now. And she can't actually say anything, Ms. Langdon, considering she smokes too." Tess pointed out as she sat down at the table, looked down at the hardwood surface, sighing as she said quietly, "She's always working.. I was going to say that sometimes I think she loves her job more than she does being my mom. And I've never actually met my father, my uncle Ben used to tell me that he was a bum and it's for the best.. Now I don't even have my uncle and aunt.."

"It was a tragedy, that family dying all within a few weeks of each other like that." Constance remarked, though she really felt no sorrow for any of the 3 having known them, having seen the ugliness underneath their little 'perfect and normal family'.

"It was. Ben.. I mean my uncle was pretty much the only father I knew as a child. And then he met and married my aunt Viv.. I was supposed to come visit them over the summer, my uncle thought having someone around might help Violet's depression, even though we kinda never really got along.. Opposites and what have you." Tess explained as Constance nodded, said quietly, " At any rate, I'm pretty sure your mama loves you.. Sometimes it's just harder for some of us to show it." as she thought about Addie, the daughter she'd lost. How she wished Addie would've become stuck in this house, then at least she'd get to see her now and then.

"Did you want something? I mean I'm sure my mom will be home in a few hours." Tess said as she felt herself calming down just a little as she stood and stretched.

"I'll stop back again around 7." Constance said as she lingered in the doorway a moment then walked out. She'd hoped that she'd catch at least a glimpse of Addie or her other children, but apparently, the spirits just weren't in a giving mood today.

She'd just stepped out of the house when Tate appeared, scowling. "She can't see me but she can hear me."

"Why in the hell did you bite that girl?" Constance asked as Tate smirked, shrugging as he said casually, "What's the matter, Mother? Jealous? I might like other women more than I like you?"

She smacked at him and he laughed, stepping back. "Get me a way in. I can't see her without some kind of invitation.. I mean I know that's for vampires, but apparently, there's something blocking me from showing myself to her. Violet came to see me, she said it's because Tess won't let me show myself. She has to want to see me."

"Bitin's not gonna help that happen." Constance remarked grimly as he glared at her and said darkly, "No kidding. Look, she's mouthy when she's scared, it pissed me off."

"I'll talk to Billie Dean and see what we can come up with. Until then, no more shenanigans like today, do you understand? You are not going to screw this up, you won't get another chance like this and if you keep scarin that girl, that family isn't going to stay, it'll be like all the other families that tried livin here and left."

"Wow.. Is this my mother the heartless bitch actually liking someone other than herself?" Tate asked as his mother leaned in and said with a calm and deliberate smirk, "The apple never falls far from the tree now does it son?" before turning on her heel, calling out over her shoulder, "Girls like romance and flowers.. It worked with Violet. What makes you think that one upstairs is any different?" before disappearing out the door leading from the basement area to the outdoors of the house. A few moments later, Tate found himself wandering aimlessly around the house, and he fell in behind Tess as she walked into the room her mother slept in and shut the door behind her, music being turned on a few seconds later.

He waited until she'd just gotten into the tub, gotten comfortable and let her guard down a little, then he slipped in to watch her while he thought about what his mother told him just now before she'd left.

Upstairs, Florence & The Machine's Seven Devils blasted from an Ipod dock in the wall of the master bathroom. The master bedroom's whirlpool bath ran, filling up with scented bubble bath and Tess slid her hand over a steamy mirror, looking at her reflection, scowling as she wrinkled her nose in distaste, studied herself intently. "Fuckin fatty." she mouthed in distaste as she stepped into the steamy and hot bath, lowering the lights, lighting the scarlet and white candles on the edges of the tub before sinking back, letting out a long slow sigh of definite discontentment. She needed to destress and unwind, maybe a long hot bath would do that for her. She hoped so at least, it'd been one hell of a weekend in this place and she was torn between being comfortable here, and hating in here, being afraid for her very life here in this house.

Her eyes popped wide open seconds later when she heard next to her ear _'You shouldn't call yourself fat.. Guys like curves. Satisfies our urges better.' _as she turned to look in the mirrored panels surrounding the luxury tub, trying to find out who said that, where they were in the room. "Where the hell are you, creeper?" she asked aloud, getting her answer as the words 'Right Behind You' appeared in the steam on the mirror.

She screamed and stood in a hurry, grabbing a towel, covering herself hastily as the voice remarked _'Nice ass. Not sure why you grabbed for the towel, I mean I've already seen everything, Tess. And I like what I see.' _

Her eyes shot down to the white marble vanity top next to her mother's sink and she saw a deep red rose lying there. She picked it up, looked around with a raised brow.

"This isn't cute. Stalking me isn't going to make me like you, whoever you are. Making me think I'm losing it isn't the way to my heart." Tess said as she once again saw a glimpse of the same strikingly handsome shaggy blondish brown haired male with golden brown eyes in the mirror behind her. He smirked and winked as he gave a small wave and disappeared almost.

She grabbed a pale pink silk robe and took off down the stairs, screaming at what she thought was an intruder, only to find out that nothing was there. Punching a wall, she swore in frustration and then asked aloud, "Where the hell did that guy go? And why the hell did he sneak in here?" to herself, laughing at herself bitterly when she realized that she was indeed showing signs of losing it, standing in the hallway of the new house, talking to herself.

With shaking hands, she felt around on the hallway table, found her cigarettes and silver zippo, stepped to the patio entrance of the kitchen, just as the woman with red hair and a bad eye was preparing to knock again for the second time that day.

"Your mother's not home yet?"

"No ma'am. But if you want to talk about being our housecleaner, step inside. I'll be in with you in a few seconds." Tess said solemnly, as she stepped into the laundry room, grabbed her pajamas from a Victoria's Secret bag on their dryer, slipped them on after slipping on a pair of hot pink silk and lace panties and then a matching bra and a solid black racerback tanktop.

She stepped into the kitchen and sat down, said quietly, "You most likely won't catch her at home any this week. It's the start of a new season. She works in fashion, this is a crucial time, at least that's what she's always claiming. So, the way I see it, ma'am? If you worked here for my uncle, you've got the job. I think my mother would say the same, she'd hate to cost you your job because my uncle and aunt are no longer living. I'll text her and let her know.. But what days will you be coming in?" Tess asked, all business, writing the schedule Moira spouted off as if memorized by heart onto a dry erase board on the fridge's chrome surface.

"You're here all alone?" Moira asked as Tess muttered something under her breath and then sighing spoke aloud, "Yes ma'am. But I won't get in your way.. Tomorrow, I'll most likely go to the mall or something for most of the day, maybe the beach or something. Just lock the place down when you finish." as Moira nodded, took the spare house key (which she really didn't need, but to keep up appearances she always took), and said "Goodbye." quietly, leaving as quickly as she'd come.

Tess leaned against the fridge, phone in hand to attempt texting her mother. Who texted back to ask if she wanted takeout, apparently, it was going to be another late night in a long succession of many past and many more to come.

Upstairs, Tate stood in front of her closet, nosing through the boxes the movers finally bought the day before, the clothes now hanging in his old closet as if to try and get some clue into what made the new living resident of his old bedroom tick.


	4. Chapter 4

**_{ A/N : Ohmigosh, thanks for the review! And for all the adds I've gotten since I posted the rewrite. Sorry if this one seems to drag so much more slowly, but I'm trying to set up the mood and tone.  
_**

**_Anyway, thanks again for the support guys, I hope you like this story!}_**

* * *

_That Awkward Moment.._

She pulled into the driveway and parked, getting her shopping bags out of her car, shutting it with her hip. The laughter drifted around from the gazebo on the side of the house and she heard the rather annoying false sweetness of their neighbor down the street, Constance Langdon, accompanied by her mother's laughter. "So she comes home for a Mai Tai with Ms. Langdon.." Tess started, trailing off as the male stepped out into view, smirking, his arms crossed. She paled, dropping her bags, staring at him.

"Who the fuck are you?"

"Tate."

"Why the fuck do you keep sneaking into my house?" Tess demanded, her hand sliding slowly through her long black hair as she fixed her eyes on him intently, waiting on an answer. He chuckled and shook his head, didn't answer, instead, he said calmly, "My mom and your mom thought we should meet or something." as she looked at him, brow raised as she asked, "Taking this to mean your mommy has no idea what a fucking pervert her son is then, huh?" with a slightly amused smirk. Again, he ignored the comment. But she knew.. She knew she'd seen him lurking in the hallway, then again in the doorway of her bedroom, and just a day or two before, in the doorway of her mother's bathroom when she'd been taking a bath. He was, in fact, the very reason she'd taken it upon herself to call the security company to get them out there to see if the system her uncle had put in actually still worked.

He smirked and leaned in, said quietly, "Aww.. I'm hurt. Relax, Tess.. If I wanted to perve on someone, I could probably find someone with a much nicer ass." with a smirk as she pouted a moment, leaned in closer. She slowly drug her tongue across her lower lip as she glared at him, angry but for once in her life, speechless.

For some reason, her emotions and her horomones were fighting an epic battle against one another right now.. And she couldn't deny that something about this guy sort of captivated her, drew her to him. "So, what's your mommy like.. A dating service?" Tess retorted as she added quietly, "You wish, Tate.. You wish you could find someone with a nicer ass." in a slightly menacing tone as she squared her shoulders, raised slightly to tiptoe to meet his height.

Again, he pretended to pout and then laughed a little, taking the shopping bags from her hands as he said casually, "Ouch. Sticks and stones, Tess.. Sticks and stones. Let's just make nice for our moms okay? I'm really a little tired of mine being on my ass."

"Fine." Tess grumbled as she stopped to lean gracefully against a column on the porch, taking out a cigarette and her lighter, lighting the cigarette. He smirked as he asked, "Those come in twos or..."

"You smoke?" she asked, exhaling, looking at him a moment, trying to keep what she called her 'resting bitch face' intact. But she couldn't for some odd reason. As she went to hand him her lighter, he grabbed hold of her hand firmly, looked at her intently, a curious expression on her face as he smirked at her and said "Yeah, that's what I thought.. You're not as tough as you pretend to be."

She gasped as she thought about the slightly pained and angry look in his eyes, just got this overwhelming urge to pull the guy into a hug, comfort him or something. Something was going on, but she wasn't about to admit it, not and give him the satisfaction of 'getting to her'.. She'd let her old boyfriend back in Texas do that, it'd gotten her nowhere but disgraced when he dumped her, claiming she was a whore, she'd do any guy that moved.. In fact, she'd done nothing sexual with the guy, but he'd tried..

And gotten his ass kicked by her as a direct result. So, to get even, in the most cliche of ways, he'd tried destroying her reputation. And for a while, it'd worked.. Until she decided to go by the motto "Big Girls Don't Cry.. They Get Even." and found a way to ruin him like he'd tried to ruin her.

"Are you gonna stand there staring at me all day, Tess, or are you taking your lighter back?" Tate asked as he held out the lighter, eyeing her in curiousity. She swiped at the fading bite mark on her neck and then shook her head, mumbled something and snatched her lighter, walking through the gate that lead to the back of the house.

Francesca looked up and said to Constance, "And they're talking at least. Maybe them being friends will help them?" as Constance said with a smile, "Maybe more than we know, huh?" with Tate giving her a firm glare that said "Do not fuck this up." as he walked past them and behind Tess into the house. The door shut behind them and he said quietly, "So.. Where does all this shit go?" pretending he didn't used to live here, that he didn't actually still haunt the house he stood in, that he wasn't fully aware of where she slept every single night, in next to nothing.

"You oughta know.. I mean you keep sneakin in." Tess said calmly as she smirked at him in amusement, biting her lower lip. He glared and then ignored the comment again, muttering something under his breath again. She caught up to him halfway up the stairs and said quietly, "Sorry, it's just.. This house.. I didn't wanna move here, I wanted to do what my uncle told us to do.. Now my mom's all happy and we're moved in and I'm sort of being a bitch about it all.. I mean the weird shit's not happening to her.. It's happening to me, damn it, and it's like she doesn't even care." as she held his gaze. He stopped walking and leaned against a wall, stopping her.

"What kind of weird stuff?" he asked, knowing what she meant without asking, but asking all the same so he'd actually look 'innocent' and she'd look irrational. For this to work, for her to be with him forever like he planned, trapped in this house, she had to think she was going crazy. It was desperate and he hated doing this, he'd told himself he wasn't going to do it this way this time, but he had to do this. The magnetic pull to her was driving him insane. And he was lonely, he missed Violet, but he found himself falling for this raven haired girl standing beside him at the same time.

He wanted her and he intended to take her.

She studied him a moment and said quietly, "Just stuff, okay? Doesn't help that my stupid ex boyfriend's still harassing me all the way in Texas. It's really not anything you wanna know about. I just.. I thought.. Forget it, it's gonna sound insane." as she opened the door to the room he used to sleep in when he'd been alive, the room she'd just painted Tiffany Blue, Pale Pink and gray on the inside, and completely redone, made girly.

Which suited her but annoyed Tate of course.

He walked in behind her and then muttered aloud "Looks like a pepto bismol explosion in here."

"Pink is my color." Tess said firmly as she shut the door, turned on some music quietly, then turned to him and said "But I just thought you were sneaking in or something?" studying him intently. Something was off about the guy, she could feel it. And despite feeling this, she could not ignore the way she kept having the urge to run to his arms, even if for one thing she barely knew him and for another, she suspected that almost everything he said since he'd said hi, except for his name, maybe, was a huge load of bullshit.

"Me? Nah. This house though.. It's creepy as fuck." Tate lied as he looked at her, watching her move around the room, putting things she'd bought up, his eyes roaming over her body in an almost predatory way.

She stopped and turned to look at him, caught him staring at her. Clearing her throat she said aloud, "Pass me that nightie and the silk robe. I'm gonna put my clothes up.. Place looks like a fucking tornado hit it. But I couldn't find my damn shirt this morning. Damn movers didn't put anything where I told them to." as he tossed the nighty and the robe to her. She laughed a little and then said "Moira's our cleaner. I see her looking at my clothes sometimes.. It's weird, it's like she's missing that age or something.." mostly to herself, mostly because Tate Langdon just made her so damn nervous.

Being alone in a room with the guy was both unsettling and intense, and frankly, that scared her.

She hated situations where she felt she had no control, this was one of those very situations. He flopped across her bed and asked mockingly, "So you're a cheerleader?"

"Yeah."

"You're not like her at all." Tate remarked as Tess laughed and shaking her head said with a shrug, "Violet was unique. Kinda why I loved her so much.. I mean even if we never showed that. I was so fucking depressed when she died. She was probably one of two people I actually had to talk to, you know? Especially lately, right before she.." her voice trailing off, cracking a little. Tate stood and sort of just appeared at her side in a hurry, said quietly right behind her, almost in her ear, "I know."

Tess turned to look up at him, saw the moments softness in his eyes. Then it was gone. She bit her lower lip and asked, "Did you know her?"

Tate shrugged and lying said quietly, "A little bit, yeah.. She had a picture of you guys in her room.. I came over to study once or twice.. I was sort of dealing with some stuff, your uncle was my shrink for a while."

"Dealing with what exactly?" Tess asked, alarm bells going off left and right in her mind as he said those words. Her uncle hadn't mentioned many of his patients, maybe Tate wasn't one of the worse ones.

"Just stuff, damn it." Tate said gruffly as he quickly added in a quiet and slightly stiff voice, "Sorry, it's just.. It's not really shit I like talking about."

"It's fine. I get it, okay?" Tess said as she studied him a moment, biting her lower lip, migrating closer to him. She stopped when their bodies brushed against each other, he smirked, steadying her.

"Sorry, I.. I was just going to grab something out of my closet." Tess said quietly, her hand winding through her hair as she looked at him. The sound of his mother announcing that she was leaving to him drew her out of her thoughts, Tate said quietly, "I'm gonna go.. Maybe I'll come over later when she's out or drunk." before vanishing out into the hallway, then down to his basement again. Once he was down there, he composed himself calmly, went back over what had transpired just now.

Not bad for their first encounter. She was his, she just didn't know it yet. But soon, she would figure it out.


	5. Chapter 5

**_{ A/N : Ohmigosh, thanks for the review! And for all the adds I've gotten since I posted the rewrite. Sorry if this one seems to drag so much more slowly, but I'm trying to set up the mood and tone.  
_**

**_Anyway, thanks again for the support guys, I hope you like this story!}_**

* * *

_Come To My Window_

She sat up in bed, rubbing at her eyes, grumbling as she caught sight of the time on the clock of her phone that lie on her nightstand. She strained to hear in the darkness of her room trying to pinpoint what exactly had been responsible for waking her up at 2 am almost and then she heard it, the pinging of rocks as they bounced off of her window. She grumbled, felt around for some form of weapon, not thinking about Tate, the boy she'd met earlier.

She'd sort of assumed, after all, that they weren't even remotely close to liking one another, even as just neighbors. But when she leaned out the partially open window, he stood in the yard below, next to a big and very old tree that lead up to her room, rock in hand, looking up at her window intently. "What the fuck is your deal?" she hissed down as she looked at him, brow raised.

He said nothing, instead, he climbed up her tree and then into the window as he said quietly, "Can't sleep."

"And waking me up is gonna help how, exactly?" she asked, feeling around for a large sweater she'd found earlier on the top shelf in a closet in her room, sliding it on when she found it. She had no clue it was one of his sweaters, but Tate saw it and bit his lower lip, refrained wisely from comment. If he wanted this to work, he had to get her to the point where she was so confused she didn't know down from up, real from fiction anymore. This had to work, he was lonely and it was starting to hurt like hell, he was starting to hate himself, having to deal with what he'd done in life a little more with each day that passed.

He didn't want to feel anything, but thanks to falling for Tess's cousin Violet.. So now, he was going to do everything in his power to make Tess belong to him in every way imaginable. "Dunno.. Just thought that since you don't have any friends here.." Tate said quietly, calmly, a smirk on his face as he watched her glaring at him, a hand on her hip. "Who said I had no friends here?"

"Tess, you've barely been in town two weeks. It's the beginning of the summer. Everybody around here gets the fuck out as soon as school's out at the end of the year.. I think we both know you haven't met anyone else our age." Tate said with a smug grin as she mumbled something he couldn't make out. She lit the candles scattered around the room and shut the window quietly, her eyes caught on the small gash he'd gotten earlier when one of his own 'victims' caught him off guard and they'd fought, and she'd gasped, glaring a moment as she asked with her own smug smirk, "So.. Who'd you piss off to get the shiner, Tate?"

"Nobody." he lied as he sat down on her bed, looked around his old room. "Just thought that since your light was on up here, I'd come in, try and make up for the way things went with us earlier?" he called out as she emerged from the bathroom that joined the bedroom, bandages, peroxide and antibiotic cream in her hands.

"What the hell are you doing?" Tate asked as he looked at her. Instead of an answer, she straddled his lap, though she kept just out of his reach, closer to his knees and the edge of his lap than she was to his chest and his upper body, and she began working on the gash on his forehead. "So.. Your mom.. She has a lot of boyfriends.." Tess remarked as she worked on the gash, finishing it off with a bright neon pink bandaid which made him scowl and ask "Really? Hot pink?"

"There was no way in hell you were bleeding on my rug, Tate. I couldve just let you keep standing down in my yard, called the security team." Tess replied calmly, scowling up at him. The bite mark stung a little and she raked her finger across it, said quietly, "That shit still hurts."

"What?" Tate lied, knowing full well what she was talking about.. The spot he'd bitten her, marked her in. He knew what was going on. He'd seen her finger as it trailed slowly across the teeth marks in the soft and vanilla scented skin.

"You don't see it?" she asked, holding a silver plated hand mirror as she turned her neck so that he could fully see his handiwork. He lied again and shook his head, said solemnly, "Nope. There's nothing there."

"It's a fucking bite mark." Tess stated matter of factly as she glared at him and then said "So.. What happened to your face, really? I mean you did wake me up at 2. And I did let you up here, despite barely knowing you for some reason I have yet to actually figure out.. You do kinda owe me an explanation."

He shrugged. He knew how girls had this thing, this tendency to 'nurse' and to 'protect' wounded creatures. He'd thought that as cold as she was, she might not be like Violet had been, try to save and help him.. But apparently, she was going to surprise him. And knowing this, sensing that if he embellished the story slightly, altered it, he might just get closer to her, even if only a little, he said quietly, "This guy.. He lives a few blocks over.. We kind of have this disagreement.. And tonight, it ended with him slamming me down face first on the hood of his car." watching her face carefully to see if she bought it even a little bit.

"Okay.. Why?" Tess asked, sensing that what he said was at least 80 percent bullshit, but choosing not to comment. Obviously, this guy, for whatever reason, felt compelled to sneak into her room at night a la Cullen style, and for the most part, this had her a little curious.. why her? What was so special about her? And why'd she feel this gravitational pull towards him the little they had been around each other?

"Just stuff, okay?" Tate said quietly, looking at her, leaning up and in a little. She moved back, he glared a little, she poked out her tongue and then said quietly, "Are you sure it wasn't that fight I heard going on at your mom's maybe? With that guy?" watching his face.. Maybe it'd been the guy his mother had over, maybe he'd made up a bully out of embarassment..

Though the reasoning didn't make sense fully.

"Fine. Okay, alright. Look, I didn't want to admit the guy kicked my ass and he was at least 2 sheets to the wind." Tate lied, watching her face carefully, almost wanting to smirk in satisfaction but refraining from it when she gasped a little and said quietly, "Oh."

'Oh what?" he asked, holding her gaze, leaning in again. She went to stand and try to move from in front of him, where she'd sat on the bed, but his arm caught her hip. "Now it's your turn.. Why were you crying outside on the gazebo earlier?" he asked, letting a small bit of pretend tender concern slip into his voice. She looked up and sighing said quietly, "Found a bottle of my uncle Ben's aftershave in the bathroom.. I started thinking about how I was supposed to be here this summer, spending it with him and my cousin, my aunt Viv.. I started thinking that sometimes I wish he'd been my father and my aunt my mother.. I mean at least they tried to be my parents.. My mom's okay, don't get me wrong, she just.."

"Addicted to work?" Tate asked, smirking to himself. So the workaholic thing ran in the Harmon family and like Ben, Tess's mother was one also.. Maybe that meant Tess got lonely? Maybe it'd give him another way to insert himself into her life like he had with Violet.. It was worth consideration.

"Basically, yeah.. I mean she's just never really actually been a parent.. She's more like a big sister? That's awful, me saying it, but it's how I feel.. I remember when I was younger, my uncle actually lived with us for a while, before he met my aunt.. And he was the disciplinary one. I guess I kinda respected him more.. Now that he's gone, it just hurts." Tess said as she hugged her knees against her body, the oversized sweater dwarfing her frame while at the same time showcasing an incredible long set of tanned legs. Tate licked his lips but remembered the little 'game' he was playing to worm his way in and quickly went back to "nerd next door' behavior, which he hated.

He hated pretending to be this weak lame ass pussy of a guy. And he suspected that deep down, Tess knew he wasn't completely the guy he passed himself off to be to her earlier when they 'first met' officially, thanks to his mother.

"You okay?" he asked quietly, his arm sliding around her casually. She looked at him and nodded, biting her lower lip as she said quietly, "Sorry I was such a bitch earlier. Maybe we can start over?"

"If you want." he said, the bile rising in his throat as he pretended to be this nice and normal sweet guy. But the only way he'd actually have a chance in hell to be any kind of happy was if this whole charade worked and in his favor. If not, he'd be alone all over again and he'd lose another girl he wanted to let himself love. Because he'd realized that since he'd been skulking in the shadows, observing her before today, he did want to let himself love her. Not because she was the closest thing to Violet, knowing he couldn't have Violet, but to actually see if maybe he could be loved, maybe he wasn't completely and totally fucked up in the head.

he knew he was at least 90 percent fucked in the head, but he liked to hope that maybe one day, he could find some good within himself even though he didn't actually hold out much hope about it in all honesty.

"Yeah." Tess said quietly as she heard the arguing beginning again at the Langdon's house down the street. She turned to him and said quietly, "Do not get used to this.. But if that guy's done that to you already, maybe you should just crash here. My mom will never know." as she slid off of her bed, folded out some couch like thing, a futon that sat in the corner near her desk, and then gathered up a black satin covered pillow, a fuzzy faux fur black blanket and held them out to him as she said "Here. You can take the futon. But I'm warning you.. No creepy stuff."

"Define creepy?" Tate joked as he flopped down onto the futon and pulled the blanket over himself, watching her wiggle around in the oversized bed in her own silk sheets, trying to get comfortable again. He'd tried shutting his eyes, pretending sleep when he heard her hiss in the dark, "So... Do you go to Westfield High?"

"I did.. Kinda got kicked out." Tate lied as he rolled onto his side and then said quietly, "For the record, I don't think your uncle would want you crying all the time."

"I know. I just miss them all." Tess admitted as she rested on her elbows, propped up in bed partially. "Wanna watch tv? My mom could sleep through a category 5 hurricane, we'll be okay." she asked as he nodded. She felt around for the remote to her tv set and turned it on, adjusting the picture settings so that it was dimly lighting the room and not waking anyone. They sat up and talked a little bit and when she finally fell asleep, he left quietly, going back down to his basement refuge.

He scowled as Chad, one of the other ghosts asked him, "Where'd the pink bandage come from?"

"None of your damn business."

"Oh but it is.. You're not after that girl are you?" the other male asked, Tate replying, "So what if I am. She is and will be mine. And nothing will stop me. You won't ruin this for me."

"We'll have to see about that, now won't we?" the male asked as he vanished, going off to another part of the house. Tate fumed a few moments, glaring hatefully at the wall. Then he screamed, his hands tugging at his hair. He hated feeling. He hated feeling this much. He hated being not totally in control of a situation, but for the second time in his life, the first one having been with Violet of course, he was very much out of control.

Maybe soon that would turn itself around though. Last night had been a huge step forward between himself and the living girl he intended to claim as his own, the girl his mother's batshit insane psychic friend claimed was his 'twin flame' or his 'soulmate'.


	6. Chapter 6

**_{ A/N : Ohmigosh, thanks for the reviews, I was so stoked to find another one earlier! And for all the adds I've gotten since I posted the rewrite. Sorry if this one seems to drag so much more slowly, but I'm trying to set up the mood and tone.  
_**

**_Anyway, thanks again for the support guys, I hope you like this story!}_**

* * *

_Round And Round_

Francesca eyed her daughter as she walked into the kitchen yawning, wearing an oversized sweater and literally no makeup, barefooted. "And she lives." Francesca teased her daughter, only earning her a glare from Tess who silently poured a steaming and oversized mug of coffee, sat down at the kitchen table and picked up a pen and the crossword puzzle.

"I'm still getting the silent treatment I see." Francesca sighed as Tess looked up, shrugged and said quietly, "I'd talk if I had anything I wanted to say or if I thought you'd actually listen to me for once." as she sipped her coffee, scowling when it burnt her tongue. She eyed the milk and the cereal sitting on the lazy susan in the center of the table and after standing, walking to the pantry, she grabbed a bowl and spoon, sat back down in her chair and poured herself a bowl of cereal, asked in mild amusement, partial distaste, "So.. How'd your meeting go last night?"

Francesca pouted a moment and said quietly, "I need the job and the hours, Tess. It's not easy, raising a teenage daughter on your own. I hope to hell you never have to find that out for yourself. One day, you'll see how hard it is to be an adult."

"Must not be too hard, mom, I mean you make time for happy hour with Ms. Langdon." Tess blurted, immediately saying in a quieter voice, "I'm sorry, Mom. I know, I shouldn't have said that." as her mother nodded and said quietly, "We'll do something together.. How about this afternoon we go to the mall, see that new Hunger Games movie?"

"It's out on blu ray, Mom." Tess said calmly as she picked at a fingernail, asked aloud, "Did you meet the new housekeeper?" as she looked at the note to her mom about Moira on their fridge. Francesca nodded and said quietly, "Thanks for making that decision. I'm glad you're not like most girls, you have a good head on your shoulders. Nothing like me at your age."

_'Nothing like you now, actually.' _Tess thought to herself, instantly feeling bad for the thought. She hated it, but it was true.. In their family, she'd always been a little more adult than her mother. She guessed that was why her uncle Ben moved in with them when she was smaller. She loved her mother to pieces, it just stood to be stated that her mother was flaky and addicted to work. And more of a friend than a parental type.

Instead of commenting aloud, she merely nodded and said quietly, "And anyway, I'm gonna go to the beach. It's just a walk from here, I can see the neighborhood, see what the hell I'm getting into no thanks to you moving us here. You do realize, mother, that we can't afford all the repairs this house will probably need sooner or later, don't you?"

Francesca gave her daughter a stern look and for a moment, she heard a dark voice whisper something like _'Just kill the ungrateful little brat in her sleep. Make it look like a suicide. That's what all the kids are doing now, nobody will ever know.. Then you will finally be rid of her, just like you've always wanted, deep down. Do it!'_

She shook the disconcerting thought and it's accompanying mental image from her mind as she said firmly, "Don't start this morning, Tess, I've got meetings all day and I'm not in the mood for it. I'm the parent. I say we're moving in, we're moving in. This is home now, learn to love it. It's a free house, damn it. What I'm saving in mortgage alone will pay for those repairs, so yes, I've considered what you're telling me."

"Sure you have, mom." Tess muttered darkly, taking a long sip of coffee as she added "Look.. I'll try. I'm not promising anything." which made her mother nod. She stood and it was then that Moira walked in, said quietly, "What needs to be done first?"

"Whatever you normally did for my brother." Francesca said as she sipped her coffee, took a bite of a beignet and read the newspaper. Tess sighed as she said from the doorway of the kitchen, "So, I'm not too mad about you springing that Tate guy on me."

"His mom said he needs friends. She's concerned about him." Francesca said as she thought back to what Constance had confided in her about her son, about how she worried about him a lot lately, and how she'd confided in the other woman about her own daughter, how she worried sometimes that Tess was too tough, too cynical and too grown up for her age.

"Yeah, I kinda got that." Tess said as she thought to herself _'Apparently not enough to keep some asshole from beating him.' _while shaking her head, wondering for a moment why she even gave a damn about the guy. After all, he still hadn't confirmed or denied that he'd been the person sort of stalking her since she and her mother moved into this house. She walked up the stairs and into her room, shutting the door behind her, turning on the fan and flopping across the bed. "There's nothing to fucking do here." she whined to herself aloud as she heard the window being knocked on. She pulled the curtain back, grumbled as she saw Tate sitting calmly in a tree limb that reached across to her bedroom window almost. She opened the window and hissed "Are you fucking nuts? That tree is ancient, what if you fall out?"

"Aww, she does care." Tate retorted with a smug and teasing smirk as he jumped into the window, falling with a thud onto the bedroom floor. She growled and rolled her eyes, kicking at him as she said "No, I just don't think it's kosher to die in someone's house."

Tate sprang up from the floor and then eyed her, snickering. "Someone didn't get all of her beauty sleep, huh?" he mocked as she held up a middle finger, dug through a drawer in the closet, turning on Rob Zombie a few seconds later. He looked at her and then said with a raised brow, "And I figured that a princess like you wouldn't touch non mainstream music with a ten foot pole."

"It's a mix Violet made for me. I like it, okay? It's not bad that I happen to like more than just pop techno bullshit. It's called having an expanded taste." she said as she brushed through her hair, said casually, "You're not doing anything today?"

"Nope. This isn't exactly a hot place to be if you haven't noticed, Tess." Tate said grimly as she turned, her hand in her hair, studying him intently. "I'm going to go find a Red Box and rent the new Hunger Games."

"Huh?"

"It's a movie.. You haven't.. Oh man." Tess said as she laughed a little then said aloud, "Then again, you are male." making Tate say calmly, "In other words it's a chick movie."

"Kinda but not." Tess said as she finished braiding her hair into a fishtail braid, turned to find him standing almost chest to back with her from behind. She gave him an odd look and asked casually, "You alright?"

"Just watching you."

"I know that, Tate.. But why exactly, were you watching me? It kinda creeps me out." Tess asked, noticing how close they stood, how their lips almost brushed right now, how he smirked and leaned in, licked his lips and said quietly, with a smug grin, "Actually, Tess, I think you're lying. I think you like it, the way I look at you."

"Actually, Tate, nope. Pretty sure it creeps me out." Tess said quietly, her lips getting closer to his as she held his gaze, calm and level. He stared at her a moment and said calmly, "If you didn't like it, Tess, you wouldn't be almost about to kiss me."

"I'm not about to kiss you. I can stand close to you like this and not kiss you, Tate. I'm not like most girls. And you won't trick me like you do the other girls you know, either." Tess smirked as she studied him, her free hand drifting upward, slowly walking through the wild mop of curly hair on his head. She brushed a few curls to the side and looked at the gash she'd doctored from the night before. "You idiot, you're supposed to change the bandaging and clean it out. Or it could get an infection. Do you want your eye to rot out?"

Tate watched her as this rare 'soft' side came out and she went into nursemaid mode again, coming out of the bathroom with peroxide, antiseptic and another bandage. "At least this one's green."

"What is it with you and pink. Tons of men, masculine men, wear pink. My uncle owned a pink tie, actually. And he wasn't a sissy. I mean at least I didn't think so. A man who can rock any color of the rainbow without being worried about how much of a pussy he looks like.. That's sexy because that's confidence, Tate.. So are you essentially telling me that you're not confident?"

He grabbed her wrist and held it, pulled her down against him and said calmly, "I'm confident. But you, Tess.. All this double talk is exhausting.. Maybe you're the one who's afraid? I've seen you look at me."

"I only met you yesterday. Unless you're admitting you were the creeper I told you about?" Tess asked, smirking, thinking she'd caught him. He laughed and shrugged mysteriously instead, then said aloud, "Or maybe it was wishful thinking. No, I saw you drive by my mom's house your first day here.. In that convertible. We stared at each other actually."

"Right." Tess said as he smirked and leaned in, whispering almost against her lips, "And I've heard, Tess.. That if you stare at someone longer than 6 seconds, you either want to fuck them or murder them."

Tess chuckled as she pulled back and said calmly, "And what makes you think I stared at you?" watching his face, her brow raised. He shrugged and said quietly, "Maybe because you kinda winked?"

This whole thing was a lie, but he almost had her believing she had actually seen him then and there as opposed to how she'd actually seen him first, where she'd actually seen him first. Maybe this whole make her think she was delusional thing was going to work out after all. She believed several things he'd told her that had been lies.. All he had to do really was keep planting little seeds of doubt in her mind. And the rest would take care of itself.

Tess suspected he was up to something, that again he wasn't being 100 percent straight with her, but instead of commenting on it, calling him out and showing her hand, she shrugged and then said "Maybe I did.. As far as the killing vs fucking thing, Tate.. The verdict is still out." as she smirked at him and winked cheekily, walking into the bathroom and shutting the door behind her, taking a few deep breaths. She never could really breathe right when she was around him, she'd noticed that. It was the same thing that happened when the 'stalker' showed themselves in the days leading up to yesterday, their meeting for the first time thanks to their mothers.

Tate watched the door, growled to himself as he muttered "Yeah.. You won't resist me much longer, Tess." as he flopped down onto her bed, crossed his arms behind his head and waited on her to walk back out of the bathroom. When she did, she scowled at him lying on her bed, saying simply, "Go right ahead then, make yourself at home, Langdon."

He smirked and grabbed the remote, flipped through the television, stopping on a re airing of a Nirvana Unplugged thing he'd actually seen when he'd still been alive. "This, Tess.. This is music."

"Sounds like some long haired guy whining to me." Tess quipped as she leaned over him, snatched the remote skillfully, flipped to some other channel, smirked as she turned to him and said "This is music. I mean if you're going to listen to that kind of music, at least make sure it has balls." surprising him when she stopped on a Metallica video playing on a VH1 show. He smirked and leaned up, his hand resting at her hip, keeping her from moving her position, going back to her spot on the bed beside him.

"Umm, what the fuck? Did I tell you to touch me?" she asked, trying to wiggle away. He smirked and said casually, "What's the matter, Tess? Stronger than you thought I was?"

"Get your damn hands off me." Tess growled as she went to swing at him, got loose from him and flung her bedroom door open, scowling as she flicked her index finger outward, gesturing towards the hall. "I don't like being touched like that. And I barely know you." she stated as he sat there, smirking as he said casually, "Oh come on.. I didn't think you'd flip out on me. What's your problem anyway?"

"My problem, Tate, is guys who just assume that since I'm a cheerleader, and I'm into wearing sexy clothes, and I happen to enjoy being a flirt, they seem to all think I'll fuck them eventually. I thought you might actually be a semi decent guy.." Tess trailed off as Tate studied her a moment and then asked simply, "So, how far did he make you go?"

"Farther than I feel like admitting to you, okay? My own mother doesn't even know about it, I've got no fucking idea why I told you that. Look, I'm sorry... I shouldn't have lost it with you, but you don't know me.. Don't do that to me, it freaks me out." Tess said quietly, the look in his eyes calming her, but only slightly. She did shut the door to her room and walk slowly, tentatively back towards the bed, and Tate sat shocked at the burning rage he felt.. He felt shocked at how he'd like to go to Texas, find the guy who did something to her and rip the guy's throat out.. Or set him on fire like he had his mom's old boyfriend.

Either one would work for him. And normally, he wouldn't care, he'd be mercurial in these types of situations.. But his mother's loopy psychic friend had said that Tess wasn't going to be like any other girl he'd ever known.

Her mother called up the stairs cutting through the tension in the room. "I'm going to a meeting, Tess. Don't forget that our new decorators are stopping by, let them in to look at the place.. And clean up a little. It's not fair, making Moira do all the work." Francesca called out, raising a brow when she thought she heard a boy's laugh coming from her daughter's room. She shrugged it off and then muttered "Skype I bet.. She better not be skyping with that no good damn punk from Riggins. I told her they were done. He's the biggest reason I moved her here." as she walked out the door.

Upstairs, Tate laughed as Tess mocked her mom's cheery tone then said to him, "If she did that all the time instead of trying to be my sister or best friend we might actually have a decent relationship. Meeting my ass.. She's going on a date. Or out for drinks with co workers. She promised she'd take me to the mall, to rent a movie later. Ughh. God I hate it when she does this!" while scowling, kicking at the closet door. She gasped when she felt his hand close over her hip and heard him mutter quietly, "I know how you feel.. Kind of.. I mean I wish my mom had been.. I mean I wish she was at least partially nice to me."

Tess turned to face him, their eyes met and her hand went upward, finger trailing along the scar he'd gotten the night before, the one she had no idea he'd lied to her about how he'd gotten it. "You can stay if you want." she said quietly as he nodded, managed a half smile and then said calmly, "I was going to. If the decorators are the same guys who did my mom's house" lying easily, keeping a poker face as he did so before continuing, "Then I really don't think your uncle Ben would want you alone in the house with one of them. Their kind make me sick.."

"Their kind?" Tess asked as Tate almost said 'Meddling assholes.' but instead said quietly, "They're gay. And they're into kinky stuff." as he looked at her, watched her start to laugh hysterically, shaking her head at him. "What's so damn funny?" he asked through gritted teeth, worried about the damage Chad and his idiot lover might do if left alone with the girl HE intended to claim, come hell or high water.

"You say it like it's not something completely normal to see. Tate, it is 2014, duh.. I mean they have their own preferences.. Doesn't mean they'll do something to me..." Tess joked as Tate looked at her and nodded, said calmly, "Still.. I just don't think your uncle Ben would want you alone in the house with two strange men."

"Aww, he's worried about my virtue.. Cute.. If I didn't know any better, Tate, I'd almost swear you were trying to protect me from something." Tess mused as he shrugged and flopped back on the bed, muttering under his breath. Damn it, he hadn't counted on Chad worming his way in this damn quickly.. What next? Uncle Ben making an otherworldly visit to warn Tess away from Tate? Or Violet?

Someone up there really, really had it in for him and that pissed him off. He hated obstacles.


	7. Chapter 7

**_{ A/N : Ohmigosh, thanks for the reviews, I was so stoked to find another one earlier! And for all the adds I've gotten since I posted the rewrite. Sorry if this one seems to drag so much more slowly, but I'm trying to set up the mood and tone.  
_**

**_Anyway, thanks again for the support guys, I hope you like this story!}_**

* * *

_Voices In My Head  
_

_'Do it now, Francesca! Smash her head in!' _the voice echoed in her mind, causing her to gasp, stop what she was doing and look around the large kitchen, rub her neck. She could almost feel whatever kept commanding her to do these horrible things staring at her intently, mockingly, almost as if they were daring her to do what they wanted her to do, kill her own child, Tess. But why? It seemed to happen whenever she and Tess fought, which in the past 2 or 3 weeks had been almost every single day. Tess hated it here, Francesca however, loved it. She was closer to work, she didn't have to make quite so many trips up here when seasons changed and she had a new line of clothing to help get on the runways and into stores, and she thought she'd get closer to her daughter in moving here.

Apparently, she was wrong about that, Tess generally avoided her when she wasn't complaining about the house or spending time with Tate, the neighbor's son. For the moment, Francesca was just happy that Tess might be giving up on the idea of moving back to Riggins anytime in the near future, accepting that they were home now, that this house was their home.

And it had to be, now, because Francesca had just sank every dime she had into an extensive renovation and modernization of the house. Strange things happened a lot now, but knowing all her money was tied into the house just made Francesca all the more ready to write them off as "old houses settle" or "we need a bigger circuit breaker box in the basement, that's why the lights keep flickering so"..

But this voice, it kept creeping in unexpectedly, ordering her to kill her own daughter.. Well, she wasn't entirely sure how to explain that one away.. Maybe she needed to slow down on the Mai Tai's when she drank them with the girls from work or Ms. Langdon down the street? Maybe it was the heat? Maybe she needed a break from work?

She sighed as Tess looked up and asked quietly, "What?"

"Nothing, I was just.. Did you say something, just now?" Francesca asked her daughter, crossing her fingers hopefully. Tess hated it here, it stood to reason that Tess could be doing all this to get her own way, get the move back to Riggins, though not that Francesca thought about it, Tess actually hadn't mentioned moving in the last 2 weeks, save for subtle and vague hints or as an angry remark when they were fighting. But other than those times, she hadn't constantly talked about and begged to move back.

"No Mom. Are you lacing your coffee with whiskey now?" Tess asked, biting her lower lip. Her mother's drinking bothered her for some reason here. It hadn't when they'd lived in Texas, and it hadn't any other time, but here it just concerned her more than it probably should. She bit her lower lip and shook her head then stood and said quietly, "Sorry, I just.." as she made her way to the sink, dropping her empty cereal bowl and coffee mug inside, gripping the edges of the sink for a moment.

Something was wrong with her mother lately, just being around the woman set Tess's nerves on edge. She seemed in a daze a lot of the time, and when she wasn't, she was sitting in her upstairs 'work space' staring at a blank sketch pad, or out the damn bay window. It was almost like the father from the Shining before he finally snapped.

Tess bit her thumbnail and tried to think of something to say. Nothing came. They'd fought earlier this morning, both of them were still tense over that. "I'm sorry about this morning, Mom. I get that you're taking care of me, doing this for us.. But you really put all your money in this place? Mom, maybe that wasn't such a good idea..."

"I'm the adult." Francesca said in an almost stiff and cold tone, turning to look at her teenage daughter as the voices kicked in again and began their incessant whispering, _'Kill her. Blame the kid next door, Tate. He looks like a psycho.. And Connie did say she was at a loss as to what to do with him, he was doing 'strange things', he was a disturbed child who scared her. DO IT FRANCESCA! KILL THEM BOTH!' _almost at a fever pitch that had her slam her fists down on the table and yell aloud "SHUT THE FUCK UP!" which made her own daughter look at her, hurt and afraid before saying quietly, "Okay then.. I'm gonna go now." edging out of the room, running up the stairs.

Tess stopped at the top of the stairs, letting out her breath as she trailed her fingers through her hair, confused. What the hell had gotten into her mother lately? She drank more, she hardly slept anymore, and when she wasn't at work, she was sitting in her workspace here, staring off into nothing as if she were lost in deep thought. Those things kept echoing around in her brain as she paced the landing at the top of the stairs, muttered to herself "Just stay in your room until she's gone. You've never made her that mad before, she looked like she'd have stabbed you if you'd gotten closer just now."

She walked into her room and shut the door, locked it firmly. The window creaked as it slid open and Tate tumbled in, perching on the window seat as he looked around the room, then at her, and asked with a smirk "Something wrong, Princess Tess?"

"Why do you never use the god damn front door?" Tess asked as she paced the floor, biting her nails still freaked out by her mother's odd behavior just now. Tate stared at her, snickered as he asked "Why the hell do you always get pissy when I come in this way?"

"Because, Tate, normal people use the god damn door, not the window, to gain entry to their friend's house. Creepers use the window." Tess stated as she stopped pacing in front of him and then asked "Does my mom seem weird to you?"

He almost told the truth, that yes, she was, and told her why, but he remembered just how important her thinking she was cracking up was to his actually keeping her around, claiming her as his own, so he lied and said "Maybe she drinks a little too much sometimes?" with a mocked sheepish grin as he looked up at her and waited.

"She just snapped my damn head off downstairs for saying something to her about how much she's sank into this terd of a house." Tess said as Tate nodded and said calmly, "Well, she is the adult."

"I know, Tate." Tess replied through gritted teeth as she said "It's gotta be more than the alcohol.. Sometimes, she just.."

"What?"

"She looks at me like she wants to kill me?" Tess ventured as she shook her head and immediately began apologizing for her short temper with him, with her mood just now, trying to explain away her mother's odd behavior. She sat down on the bed beside Tate since he'd moved there, flopped across the black velvet comforter easily and leaned her head against his chest warily. He looked down at her and asked "You sure you're okay, Tess?"

"Just shut it and hold me, Tate. That's what friends normally do in this situation.. You are my friend, right?" she asked, looking up at him, plump pink lip passing through white teeth as he smirked and nodded, looped his arm around her. "So.. How'd it go with the designers?" he asked curiously. He knew that the two 'fairies' he loved to hate had been there almost all morning.

"It went. The one guy, Chad keeps hinting that you're not a nice guy." Tess admitted, remembering the conversation he'd bought up, warning her away from Tate earlier out of the blue. It set off alarms in her mind, but now, with him here, him holding her against him, even though she suspected he was every bit the devil in disguise that Chad made him out to be, she couldn't help but feel like she maybe belonged right where she was. Which scared her shitless. She didn't want Tate having that kind of power over her, she suspected he was a master manipulator, yet she was powerless to stop herself from falling for his manipulations each and every single time he did it.

"Chad's a nosy little bitch with too much time on his hands. He's pissed because I kind of said something to him once a long time ago." Tate lied easily, his arm going around her a little tighter. Did she believe Chad's confessions about the real Tate Langdon? How much had Chad hinted at?

"I kinda figured that. But I know you're not some damn saint either, Tate." Tess admitted as she looked up at him and said in a quieter voice, "But you're pretty much the only friend I have here.. And I don't wanna lose that."

"Me either. I really didn't have many friends, I mean after Violet..." Tate trailed off. By now, he'd worked around to telling Tess about his having 'been with' Violet, of course he'd done a lot of lying there and sugarcoating the truth, but he knew if he wanted Tess to stay, and not leave him like Violet had, like everyone else had, he had to lie.

For the second time in his life, he was finding it hard to keep up all the lies. He was finding it hard not to keep himself from just pouring out his very soul to this girl he barely knew. He was finding it hard to cope with what he'd done, what he was doing now and how damn much it hurt when he'd lost Violet in the end, despite all his efforts.

Now he had Tess. And today, they were making just a little progress. He sat up in the bed and pulled her into his lap, said quietly, "Don't fucking punch me for what I'm about to do."

"Tate?" she asked as he pulled her into a rough and slightly desperate but very passionate kiss, his hand resting on the back of her neck, his teeth grazing her lower lip as he slipped his tongue past it, met her tongue with his tongue, massaging her tongue. She groaned and leaned against him, her hands trailing slowly through his shaggy and curly hair, said in quiet shock, "Any reason you're kissing me?"

"Because, Tess, I wanted to."

She nodded dumbly and sat staring at him as the kiss broke, wiping her tingling lips as she finally managed to say quietly, "I think I wanted you to kiss me.. Just don't turn out to be an asshole like that other guy was."

"I make no promises." Tate said calmly as he stared at her, a smoldering lustful look in his eyes. "I'm gonna go." he muttered as he made his way out of her bedroom window. He hadn't meant to do that just now, he'd been intending on doing that later, much later. He swore to himself as he paced the basement, his hand in his hair. "Damn it, I don't wanna feel things. I don't wanna feel things at all.. Why in the hell can't I turn my god damn feelings off?" he swore, growling as he heard Chad laughing behind him.

"Fuck off."

"This is odd. Cold blooded killer with a conscience? Or is this another act?"

"I said, Chad, fuck off." Tate growled as he lunged at the male who simply vanished out of sight. Tate glared and sat in the corner of the basement. He hated admitting it, but she'd wormed her way into his heart too. Now he had to pull this off and make her his in every way possible. No matter what he had to do to get it, she was going to be his.


	8. Chapter 8

**_{ A/N : Ohmigosh, thanks for the reviews, I was so stoked to find another one earlier! And for all the adds I've gotten since I posted the rewrite. Sorry if this one seems to drag so much more slowly, but I'm trying to set up the mood and tone.  
_**

**_Anyway, thanks again for the support guys, I hope you like this story!}_**

* * *

_Dreams & Nightmares  
_

She sat up, gasping. A look at the clock on her nightstand confirmed it. She'd only been asleep an hour, but the nightmare she'd been having in it's jumbled up and confused fashion made it feel as if she'd barely slept at all, or worse, that she'd been asleep for years. Disoriented, she stood and walked around the darkened room, biting her thumb in thought.

She'd been talking to her uncle Ben, it seemed so real. He kept telling her that Tate wasn't a good guy, that he'd done horrible things, that something was going on that she wasn't fully aware of. Then that scene had changed and she heard Violet saying quietly, "My dad means well, Tessie, but he's not totally right about Tate. Maybe 70 percent right, but Tate.. He wouldn't hurt you. You are helping him, you can't turn your back on him.. Not like I did."

Then she found herself in a nursery, a little baby was sitting up, alert, looking around the room as if curious. A ring of fire erupted around the cribs and she screamed as she found herself locked behind some kind of looking glass or a two way mirror or something. The scene changed again and Tate stood in the flames, not the crib and baby from before. She'd been shocked at her reaction to this, the way she did everything she could to move the 'forcefield' between them or shatter the glass. She could hear him yelling something at her, but right when she'd been about to waken from the dream, the scene changed once more.. This time, it was early morning, she lie in the bed in her room.

She could feel him slipping into the bed beside her, his lips on the back of her neck as the old bite mark began to burn. He kept saying something under his breath, but when she tried to ask him what he was saying, he'd give her that stormy angry look he was so good at giving and he continued to kiss down her neck, lower, to her chest as he used his teeth to move the thin lacy bra out of his way. She groaned and her back arched, she licked her lips and cried out his name, gripping his hair as his lips moved lower, now at her hips.

Then she woke up, afraid, angry and aroused all in the same dream. Her shirt was gone, she must have pulled it off during the hour she'd been asleep. The sounds of Stevie Nicks playing in the den downstairs, two women laughing had her groaning as she muttered "Really, Mother? Drinks this late?" while sliding out of her bed, pulling on the oversized men's v neck sweater that she'd assumed belonged to her uncle (but actually belonged to Tate), tiptoeing to her bedroom door, peeking out.

She almost screamed as she felt his lips on the back of her neck, heard him whispering "Boo" and then starting to laugh so hard he was almost doubling over when she turned around to glare at him. "The hell, Tate? Seriously? You know how bad this place freaks me out at night and you're really gonna creep into my room like that?" she asked, looking at him in slight anger.

He pouted a moment and then said "Someone's edgy tonight."

"If you just had the fucking dream I did, Langdon, you'd be edgy too." Tess said as she tried to peer out the door again, having just heard a male voice join in the laughter and conversation downstairs. "What the fuckin hell is she doing down there, throwing a rager? Does she not know teenage girls need at least 8 hours of sleep?" Tess grumbled as Tate turned her around to face him and asked "Why?"

"Why what?"

"What'd you dream about and why did it make you edgy?" Tate asked as she rubbed her neck and said "It was just fuckin weird, okay? Like the end of it was good, but the other parts, not so much?" making him laugh as he said calmly, "You're making no sense."

"Okay, first I talked to my uncle Ben who warned me away from you. And then I talked to my cousin Violet, who said the opposite, but didn't deny that you might have done bad things in your life. Then I dreamt I was standing in this nursery, and this baby was in a crib in the middle. The damn room bursts into flames and when I go to move to grab the kid, this wall or something stops me.. Then the baby turned into you.. And I was screaming and crying and trying to get to the other side and get you out of the room.. Then for some reason or another, all the scary shit turned into an all out porno, we were in my bed and..." Tess stammered in a rush, going silent at the end of what she said, her eyes dropping to her feet as she took a few deep breaths. Just retelling the dream had her heart racing, had the feeling of panic and then arousal coming back simultaneously.

Tate stared at her a moment and finally said " Your uncle.. What'd he tell you?"

"Just that you were probably Satan's spawn, that I should stay away, that you'd only wind up getting me hurt or killed." Tess said quietly as Tate fumed to himself, vowed to get his hands on Ben Harmon somehow, even if he had to yank the bastard through his happy afterlife to do it. A few moments passed and he said quietly, "He was just trying to take care of you, being overprotective. I'm not a good guy, he's right about that. Thing of it is, Tess, you're the only one who can decide whether you listen to all these people."

She looked up at him. She wasn't dumb, anybody with even half a brain would know that the intense dream and nightmare from just now were both warnings about him. But she saw him standing there now and somehow, even though as he stood in front of her right then, all she could think about was the overwhelming sense of panic she felt when she dreamt he might be burned alive.

"Just promise me you're gonna stay out of locked rooms that have the chance of catching fire." Tess said in a huff as she turned and slid on some lounge pants, turned back around only to be pulled against him, have him laughing it up about her very real panic as he said in a mocking tone, "Well then .. She does give a damn about someone other than herself."

"I never said I didn't. Stop laughing you ass, this is not funny." Tess fumed, pouting as he shook his head and said quietly, "I'm right here. It was just a dream. Maybe your uncle was also warning you about the house.." which made her nod, seemed to calm her down a little bit.

"That freaky woman came by earlier, Nora? The one who's got a thing for wandering around the house like she owns the damn place? Yeah.. She creeps me out." Tess said as she rubbed her arms. Tate smirked as he realized she was wearing his sweater again, but coughed and covered quickly by saying "What'd she do this time?"

"She kept talking to my mom about how this house looked better before the renovation. Then she and my mother had a few drinks and started bitching about men. Apparently her husband was a jerk too." Tess bristled as Tate nodded and said quietly, "Wanna go outside?"

"It's dark out."

"So? Afraid of a little darkness?" Tate asked as she shook her head and laughing a little said "I could use a smoke. Especially for the last part of that bizarre shitshow of a dream.."

"Yeah, see, now that I wanna hear about." Tate said as she glared a moment, shook her head slowly and said with a smirk "All in good time, Langdon.. Haven't decided whether I wanna fuck you or murder you yet, remember?" with a playful wink. That was their odd inside joke now. He smirked and leaning in, captured her lips in a kiss, biting her lips as he mumbled quietly, "I think you know the answer to that already, Tess, you're just in denial."


	9. Chapter 9

**_{ A/N : Ohmigosh, thanks for the reviews, I was so stoked to find another one earlier! And for all the adds I've gotten since I posted the rewrite. Sorry if this one seems to drag so much more slowly, but I'm trying to set up the mood and tone.  
_**

**_Anyway, thanks again for the support guys, I hope you like this story! This chapter might be a little sexy, be warned. And it's inspired by a line from Katy Perry's Could You Be A Devil, Could You Be An Angel, which I happen to think fits tate langdon to a t.}_**

* * *

_Kiss Me Kiss Me .. Infect Me With Your Love And Fill Me With Your Poison  
_

The window slid open and Tess grumbled as she rolled over in bed. She'd gotten so used to Tate sneaking in this way that she didn't even really bat a lash when he did so anymore.

The bed dipped down and Tate's lips slowly grazed the back of her neck as he slid in behind her, said quietly, "So, who's neck am I breaking?"

"Nobody's, Tate, I handled it." Tess said as he rolled her over and said quietly, "That guy, though.. You said he's messing with you." in reference to this guy who was in her English class at Westfield High, the way he inappropriately touched her and made comments about her that angered Tate when he'd heard about them from Tess.

"What'd you do?" Tate asked, eyeing her as she said quietly, "I turned him in.. To a teacher? You know, that is how people usually handle those things." as she sighed a little and then said "I'm just upset tonight because my mom, she sort of scared me.. I looked up from doing my homework earlier and I saw her standing in the doorway of my room, zoned out with a huge ass steak knife in her hand. When I yelled her name she dropped the knife and ran out of here crying, she hasn't left her room since and Moira's been in with her for almost an hour now. I'm scared, Tate." Tess admitted shakily as Tate pulled her against him, his normally hard and cold persona falling away for a few moments as he looked at her and said calmly, "She do that a lot?"

"Not really.. But she's been acting so damn weird lately." Tess said as she took a few deep breaths and then said "But I handled the other thing."

"Yeah, well I'm gonna handle it if it happens again. Nobody fucks with what's mine." Tate muttered as his lips buried in her hair. He wasn't like this, normally. He wasn't a nice guy at all. But Tess (like Violet had before she crossed over and left him here alone to rot, told him she hated him and she was done with him, his lies) made him want to be decent at least.. Even if it was only for her.

Nobody else on this miserable god damned planet deserved that. He'd thought Violet had, then Violet abandoned him and crossed over, left him to rot. She chose her family over him.

The way things seemed to be progressing between himself and Tess lately, there might just be a chance that this time, Tess would do the opposite and choose him. For once he'd be important, wanted, to someone. Deep down, this is what he wanted. Didn't everyone just wanted to feel wanted or needed, special to someone?

He thought they must and this having a 'conscience' thing was all new to him, so he navigated the murky waters of it as best as he could.

Tess smiled a little, hearing him declare that the way he did made her feel wanted, special.. That's all she really wanted, and she'd never really felt that way before. As shallow as it may seem, she just wanted to look at someone and know they loved her, surly personality, flaws, ugliness and all.

And sometimes, when she looked at him, she thought he might feel that way about her. "How sweet. My own Joker." she joked as Tate chuckled a little and looked at her, raising to rest his body's weight on his elbow, looking down at her. "I mean it. You're mine and nobody's gonna fucking touch you." he said forcefully as she looked up at him, trailed her finger slowly along his lower lip and said quietly, "I'll believe it one day. But it's nice to hear you say it."

His hand trailed over her leg slowly, rested on her bare thigh as he said casually, "Feel better now?"

"A little, yeah. Just still mildly creeped out by my mom's weirdness lately." Tess admitted as Tate leaned down, slid on top of her, pinning her hands at the side of her head, started to kiss her, biting her lips, nipping her neck as he asked in a deeper and huskier tone than usual, "Now?"

"I think we're getting there." Tess said with a smug grin as she leaned up, her hand resting on the back of his neck, pulling him down on her completely as she deepened the kiss, her leg raising, wrapping around his hips. He chuckled and then mutttered "So.. Made your mind up about whether you wanna kill me or fuck me yet?" before grazing his teeth against her bare neck, making her shiver and whimper a little as she shook her head then said quietly, " I think you were right.. I knew all along, wasn't admitting it or something." while raking her hand through his hair, pulling gently as she grazed her teeth against his neck, nipping at it, leaving a smallish purple mark in her lips wake.

He growled and pulled her against him completely, she gasped a little and he said "Yeah.. We might wanna stop now, if you're just being a tease."

She pouted a few seconds and he almost caved in, but he sat up instead and then said "Not like this. Not because you're upset or something." as he looked away, off at a wall across the room. She sat up behind him and rested her chin on her shoulders, said quietly, "I'm not that upset. You showing up now.. It helped a lot." as she leaned around, kissed along his jaw line slowly, winced at a new bruise and asked "Did you get into it with one of the guys at your mom's again?"

He shook his head and said quietly, "Nope. Got into it with a guy a few blocks over." which wasn't totally a lie. But he wasn't about to tell her he'd tried to leave the house's grounds, just to go to Westfield High and make sure the jerk wasn't messing with her, which weakened him, because he wasn't supposed to leave the house's grounds as a general rule, and while he'd been out, he'd encountered one of his 'victims', and the guy had basically kicked his ass, would've killed him if he hadn't managed to haul ass back to Murder House, to the safety of his basement.

"What's his name?" Tess asked in curiousity, wondering if it were someone she went to school with that maybe Tate had known before being thrown out of Westfield.

"I knew it but I can't remember it." Tate lied convincingly as he turned around, gently pushed her back onto the bed and said calmly, "And you're not getting in the middle of it." before lowering his lips to meet hers again, his hands roaming slowly all over her body. He hated lying to her, but she still couldn't handle the truth.

Their bond was growing, however, and maybe soon he could tell her. Maybe when he told her he wouldn't lose her. Now all he had to do was keep that nosy bastard Chad or the ever chatty maid Moira to keep their noses out and stop trying to turn her against him with their own twisted versions of the truth.

Tess moaned and her eyelids fluttered as his hand slid beneath her tanktop, cupped her breast. She sat up this time and said quietly, "You just said.."

"I know.. I just had to touch you, okay?" Tate said as he looked at her, leaned in and pulled her into another kiss. Hopefully if he enjoyed what he had now, it wouldn't be so damn tragic if he lost her too. She giggled and kissed back, muttered quietly, "You're probably the only light in us moving here. I mean I thought all guys were bastards."

The statement made him feel probably as bad as he had when the truth came out to Violet and he'd seen the look in her eyes, heard her say she hated him and she was done. She'd crossed over before he even got to plead his case, tell her why he'd done the the things he'd done.

Because he'd had reasons.

But hearing Tess say that really made him feel badly about the lengths he was going to to make sure she stayed, she chose him, nothing outside tainted or interfered with this. He had to have her, he was so damn sick of being alone.

"Are you alright?" she asked him, her finger tracing his abdomen making him groan and tense up as he said quietly, "Yeah. Just shocked.. I mean nobody's ever actually said that before.. Not to me at least. I'm used to hearing what a selfish cold bastard I am."

_'You are, Tate. And my niece isn't stupid. She's gonna see that. And when she leaves you too, just like my daugher finally did, I'm gonna have the last laugh you sick little shit.' _he heard Ben taunting from the safety zone of the afterlife. He wanted to get up and find the jerk, kick his ass, but parts of him worried that Ben just might be right..

He really didn't know yet if Tess was gonna stick around. She wouldn't even fully take his advances and 'subtle suggestions' about them being 'together' seriously, she usually just laughed a little and shrugged, said something coy like "We'll see."

Girls, or at least as he'd remembered them, hadn't been this complicated in 1994.

"Who says that?" Tess demanded as she looked at him, brow raised. She knew that he and his mother had a strained relationship, despite anything Ms. Langdon might say otherwise. Was she the one who said those things?

Her mother did the same sometimes, called her things, a lot more now than she had before. Before she'd only be mad and not mean them. But now she did it for no real reason, out of the blue. It almost seemed like this house was preying on her mother's occasional weaknesses.

It scared her. A lot like her feelings for Tate scared her. And she felt lost because she didn't have her uncle to talk to about all of it.

"Just people. I'd rather not talk about it." Tate said stiffly as he looked at her, calming down. She nodded and then said quietly, "Fine.. We won't talk. We'll watch tv or something." as he shook his head and pulled her on top of him, nipping at her neck, laughing as he muttered "Or we'll pretend to watch tv and make out."

She groaned and then leaning up said jokingly, "And you say my mood swings are bipolar." as he glared a moment and she laughed then said "Sorry, it's just, you're all over the place tonight." as he nodded and said calmly, "It's kinda your fault."


	10. INTERMISSION I - 1972

**_{ A/N : Ohmigosh, thanks for the reviews, And for all the adds I've gotten since I posted the rewrite. Sorry if this one seems to drag so much more slowly, but I'm trying to set up the mood and tone. Every now and then there will be chapters like this, they'll sort of fit with what's going on currently in the story.. It's sort of me giving the house even more of a creepy and fucked up history.}_**

* * *

_INTERMISSION 01 - 1972_

_The baby cried and cried and cried, all damn night. This was not what she signed on for, damn it, when she finally gave her new husband, Jim, the baby he wanted so damn much. Naturally, she thought to herself as she plodded down the hallway to the nursery, he'd want the baby, he hadn't actually done any of the work to take care of it, since she'd given birth._

_She paused as she felt this cold and almost knifelike chill run down her arms just inside the nursery doorway. The baby was really wailing now, it almost made her ears ache. The room had an eerie greenish glow to it, and she kept hearing all of her deepest darkest thoughts being whispered at her as if some unseen force were taunting her._

_SHUT THE FUCK UP! SHUT UP! SHUT UP NOW, GOD DAMN IT! she screamed as one small thought crept in while she poked at the fire going in the fireplace in the nursery.. 'kill it, kill it, kill it. you can burn it and nobody will ever know.'_

_She gasped as she heard the baby screaming a little louder and going to peer over the crib rails, she gasped even more when she saw the baby, sitting up, blood caked around it's mouth. _

_'that thing is not your baby.' the small thought tried again. Rita bit her lip and paced. She knew that to make the baby stop crying, she'd have to feed it.. She knew that what she was seeing right now was either a leftover hallucination from the shrooms she'd done with her sister Kelsie earlier while Jim was at work, or just some very vivid nightmare or something, she knew it wasn't real.._

_But the damn scene looked real. The baby reached it's chubby little hand out to her and she shrank back, ran from the room hysterical._

_Halfway down the hall, she fell down, face first and heard the voice again, insistant, nagging almost.. 'kill the little brat. it's not normal, you know something's not right with that damn baby. kill it and spare yourself.'_

_'kill your husband too.. he's the one who forced you to have the damn thing'._

_Police responded to a neighbor's 911 call around 12 am on the morning of May 3rd. By the time a unit made it to the scene, the mother was outside, shotgun in hand, rocking back and forth on a chair sitting on the porch of the house. Inside the house the walls were painted in blood and the smell of burning flesh could be smelled from the lit fireplace in the parlor._

_She never stood trial. She confessed to the whole thing and went straight to a sanitarium, where she resided until her death in 1985._


	11. Chapter 11

**_{ A/N : Ohmigosh, thanks for the reviews, And for all the adds I've gotten since I posted the rewrite. Sorry if this one seems to drag so much more slowly, but I'm trying to set up the mood and tone. This chapter will sort of elaborate on the intermission, it's me adding a bit more horror and history to Murder House.}_**

* * *

_Mommy Dearest_

She rubbed her eyes as the door to her bedroom opened and called out in the dark, "Who's there?" thinking that maybe she'd just heard the wind or something blowing her bedroom door open since she was sleeping with the window in her room wide open and it was a windier than usual night tonight.

She got no answer so she sat up, rubbing her eyes again, trying to get them to focus. The air had this odd and heavy bitter scent to it, and she got a really, really bad feeling. Her bathroom light was on and she knew for a fact that she'd shut it off earlier, after she'd gotten done with her long and intense bubble bath. "Mom?" she called out, her voice wavering just a little as she felt around for the kitchen knife she'd taken to keeping in her bedroom, because yes, this house screwed with her mind that much, and gasped quietly when she found it gone.

Her mother said in a quiet voice, "Looking for this?" as the moon's natural light caught on the gleam of silver in her hands. Tess shook her head, a scream frozen on her lips and...

She fell off the bed, hitting the hardwood floor beneath her. She sat up swearing and soaked in a cold sweat as she woke up from the recurring nightmare she'd had for almost 2 weeks now, on and off. Her mother's weird behavior was getting much weirder now and sometimes she cried herself to sleep because she really thought that for all intents and purposes, she was losing her mother, who was apparently losing her own sanity.

Her mom was all she had.

The laugh she heard sitting in the white wicker chair at her vanity chilled her bones as she strained to see in the dark, tried to covertly slide her hand beneath the pink satin pillow and grab the kitchen knife she kept under it. The knife, like in her dream, was gone.

"Are you alright Tess?" a voice asked from the darkness as she reached for her cell phone, casting a dim light in that area of her room. She raised a brow and asked her mother, "What in the hell, Mom?"

"I wanted to make sure you don't have any disgusting little boys up here, Tess.. You're not up here being a whore like I was, are you?" her mother asked, voice stumbling, it was obvious her mother was more than halfway drunk right now. Tess sighed and said quietly, "No, mom.. But I can see you've been drinking again.. I wish you'd.."

"Don't tell me what to do, Tess.. You know Mommy doesn't like to be bossed around. I'm the adult, you are the child, remember?"

"But, I... I worry, Mom." Tess said aloud as she mentally added _'Especially since we moved here.. You've really started to go downhill, Mom.' _

"If I catch a boy in here, Tess.. You won't like what happens." her mother said calmly as she walked out of the room after throwing her head back, laughing that evil and cold laugh.

Tess rubbed her arms and standing, she ran to the door and locked it behind her mother, fell back into bed. It felt like her heart was going to beat right out of her chest right now and her mother's grim words kept repeating over and over in her head. She'd never been that scared of her mother, or anyone, for that matter, in her life.

Catching her breath, she rolled over onto her stomach, reached for her phone. She was just about to text Tate and tell him what just happened, but she heard the pebbles being launched at the bedroom window, and she held her breath for a few moments, then, satisfied that her mother wasn't anywhere on the same floor or part of the house, or if she were, she'd went back to sleep, she hurried to the window, slid it open and let him in.

"You okay?" he asked as he looked at her. He could just tell she'd had something happen to her, he knew which of the ghosts was responsible for this one, and he was furious right now. He'd deal with the bitch later. Right now, he needed to make sure Tess was alright.

For once he wasn't thinking entirely of himself anymore which shocked and scared him.

"I'm fine.. Just, my mom.. She came in here just now, was talking out of her head.. I.." she stopped in mid sentence and strained to hear then let out a deep breath when she realized that it was just paranoia, before continuing, "I think my mom knows you're sneaking in.. She made a threat and... It scared me.. I mean she's never done that before, just threatened me like that.. With the kitchen knife I've been keeping in here since that weird guy watching me from the tree incident." Tess rambled as Tate put his arms around her and then tilted her chin up as he said firmly, "Look at me, Tess."

She nodded and he continued, "What'd she say?"

"Just that if I was up here being a damn whore like her, and I had a boy in here.. I wasn't going to like the outcome. Then the way she laughed, Tate.. She sounded crazy. And the nightmare I had before I fell off the bed and found her in here didn't help either." Tess said as Tate stared at her, nodding and then said quietly, "If she ever does that again.. Run. Go down to the basement and hide. I'll find you there somehow. Do you hear me?"

She nodded and then said quietly, "So you don't think I'm losing it? Because I told her how she's been acting, and she told me that it's stress and nightmares. She honestly thinks I'm making it up to make her move us back to Riggins." as Tate nodded and then said "You're not crazy. She might be drunk and asleep, not realize what she's doing.. My mom.."

Tess looked at him and nodded, he didn't have to say anything else, she knew what he meant when he stopped his sentence. She knew by now how his mother treated him (or at least she 'thought' she did, going by what he told her.. And his mother had treated him like shit before he got himself killed after losing it completely.), and she wasn't going to push it or make him talk.

"Are you okay now?" he asked as she nodded and rested her head against his chest then said quietly, "Just a little scared and confused. I'll be okay."

"Good.. You're mine, damn it, and nothing is going to happen to change that." Tate grumbled as he hugged her again and then made himself leave. He had a ghost to take care of downstairs. He was not happy about this, not at all.


	12. Chapter 12

**_{ A/N : Ohmigosh, thanks for the reviews! And for all the adds I've gotten since I posted the rewrite. You guys are amazing, all of you, and you are what keep me inspired. This idea was inspired by something an anon reviewer said, reminding me about Thaddeus, which thus reminded me about Nora's 'motherly' bond with Tate. This chapter kind of plays on that. And hopefully I don't fuck it up and everyone is as IC as they can be considered they're in a situation that they haven't really been in before, if that makes sense.}_**

* * *

_Mother,Mother  
_

_Darkness on the Horizon_

"And she says that her mother's just lurking in shadows with knives now?" Nora asked Tate as Tate paced, furious. "And that fucking Thaddeus.. His shit, the watching her, Nora.. I'm telling him to go away, he's not listening. It's almost like he's got something in mind for her and I don't like it." he growled practically as he stopped to punch a wall.

Nora sighed and then shook her head, said quietly, "I think it's another one of them. Not Thaddeus. He only watches her because she's a pretty girl, Tate." defending her son as Tate shook his head and said "In the fuckin shower? I saw him, Nora, don't fuckin lie for him."

"He's curious. He never actually got the chance you threw away." Nora explained, her eyes flashing an angry shade of their usual blue-green. She stood with her hand on her hip and stared him down firmly as he said "And that fucking pervert I thought I finished off and banished.. He's still hanging around, demanding Tess's mom pay him what Ben didn't. They're gonna mess this up for me."

"Tate, calm down.. Remember what I told you? Tell them to go away and they will. You're powerful, you always have been, even when you were alive."Nora admitted quietly as Tate looked at her angrily. "Control that son of yours, Nora. I mean it, or I'll fuckin kill him a third time and I'll make sure he stays gone." he fumed as she stiffened and said calmly, "Do it, Tate.. See how fast I'm up those stairs and in her room, telling her every single thing you refuse to."

"You said, Nora.. By any means.. If I want something, I can do it. Well, I want her and I'm not letting her slip away like Violet.." Tate grumbled as Nora sighed and said "You lost her, Tate, because you refused to just come clean after you talked. Your lies cost you Violet. And they cost me my new baby. You promised."

Tate eyed her, his hand in his hair. He thought she might have forgotten the promise, he thought she might have forgotten that he swore to her she'd get to be a mother again somehow. Seeing as how Vivien and Violet and the babies Vivien carried had all crossed over, Ben leading the way, of course, he'd had to break that promise.

His stomach churned and he shook his head as he said "No. I don't want.."

"I don't really much care what you want, Tate.. Who was your mother? Who took care of you when you got stuck here in this house after you died? Who?" she demanded, nagging at him in anger. The way she saw it, she had a chance with this new girl, to get something she wanted while helping Tate to finally get the one thing he truly wanted and hadn't gotten in life, had gotten screwed out of in death.

She could have her baby, if he got this girl he was so wound up over pregnant, and Tate could have the girl, because Nora was almost certain that the girl being as high strung as she was, would die soon.

But she'd never heard of a mother going after her own child with knives, waiting for the child to sleep so she could kill her.

Tate looked at her. He'd known Nora so long now, he knew she hadn't forgotten and the thought made him sick. She basically wanted him to purposely get Tess pregnant so that she could take the baby somehow, and Tess..

He shook his head and said calmly, "I'll find you a baby. But it won't be from her."

"What about the mother?" Nora inquired sweetly as Tate shook his head and said calmly, "Oh no.. Not with that one. Not this time." firmly. He wasn't going through what made him lose Violet a second time with Tess. Nothing was going to keep him from getting Tess all to himself.

"Pretty little girlfriend you've got yourself these days, Tate." Larry spoke from the shadows. Tate growled and lunged at the man, accomplishing nothing, because Larry laughed and reappeared across the basement from him as he said "So curvy.. She's got the fullest tits.."

"God damn it, Larry, I'll burn you alive a second time." Tate growled as Larry shook his finger then said "You won't. You're going to lose it all again you know.. You're going to lose the girl, Nora her chance to be a mom and the baby.. Unless you do something to get me my money.. I can get the Queer Eye guys to help me and I will. The woman is family, and it does fall to her to pay debts owed. I know you wouldn't want that pretty little piece of ass getting chopped up? Would you, Tate?"

Tate slow clapped sarcastically as he said "I fuckin own you, Larry."

"Not quite.. See, I'm getting powerful." Larry said with a laugh as Tate realized what week it was and growled as he said calmly, "Keep your god damn eyes and hands off of her, Larry, or I swear to Christ above you will burn again."

"See, Tate, I know something you don't even know about this house.. It's not just you and the Infatata that little sewn together sack of shit Nora calls a son who hold the power.. This house has roots. Those roots go back farther than even you realize. And soon? You're not going to be top ghostie anymore."

Nora scowled as she stared Larry down, but her eyes grew a fraction fearful when she realized the man wasn't joking. "What do you mean?"

"Let's just say this Halloween is gonna be a real fun night. It marks the anniversary of quite a few things actually." Larry said as he paced the basement, laughed a little and said "And I'm not gonna tell either one of you about it."

"He's fuckin lying." Tate said in anger as he grabbed for Larry, holding him up by his collar, saying in a commanding tone, "And as soon as I find a gas can.."

"Sticks and stones, Tate." Larry said as he vanished to his own area of the estate for the night. This left him alone with Nora again. She said firmly, "You will do it, Tate.. You will give me the baby you promised this time. You owe me that much you miserable little shit." before vanishing into the room she seemed to spend all her time in.

Tate leaned back against the wall as he pondered everything that might lie ahead. And he growled, swung at a wall nearby when he could've sworn he heard Ben and Vivien laughing at him as if they were going to get the last laugh in all this. Not if he could help it, they weren't. They took Violet from him, they made him break a promise to Nora and this really pissed the teenage male off.


	13. Chapter 13

**_{ A/N : Ohmigosh, thanks for the reviews! And for all the adds I've gotten since I posted the rewrite. You guys are amazing, all of you, and you are what keep me inspired. }_**

* * *

_Seven Devils All Around You  
_

The woman knocked and Francesca peered out the door. "What do you want?" she asked as the woman spoke up and said quietly, "I tutor young ladies."

"My daughter goes to Westfield High.. She's a straight A student, actually." Francesca said as the woman spoke up, slightly agitated and said "I teach them social graces." as she peered up at the door's peephole, waiting with her arms crossed as she looked around. She had to get into the house. The house was supposed to be some kind of paranormal gateway or something, and if she could just get in the damn house, she could ace her final and write the definitive study on Murder House. Hell, she might even win some kind of prize or something.

She'd tried with the previous owners, Ben and Vivien and they hadn't taken the bait. But she'd been watching this time, these two new inhabitants and it was quite obvious the woman speaking to her through the door had no clue just how much of a 'good girl' her precious little angel wasn't.

Not to mention she made a promise to a friend and she never broke promises. Ever. The anniversary of one of the biggest yet most hush hush massacre that'd taken place was coming up. And neither girls could really remember that night clearly, but they both remembered enough to know what they'd seen hiding in the fucking basement.

What had feasted on their friend's flesh, blood and bones. And sat laughing about it while they were hidden in a far corner of the basement, forced to watch in horror. If they'd screamed? They'd have been dessert and a midnight snack. The woman looked at her wrist, winced at the bitemark on the inside of it.

Suffice to say, she was going to find the fucker that had eaten one of her friends and do something about it. She was also going to do a little snooping and reporting while she was here. After all, thanks to her college's abnormal psych department, she had a few nifty little toys at her disposal.

She'd finally debunk this great myth that the house itself was evil, that there were actual honest to God fucking ghosts within it's walls. She knew differently, after all, or at least she thought she did.

Francesca thought over the woman on the other side of the door's offer. Maybe having someone around to sort of keep Tess company might stop these foolish stories her daughter kept telling, maybe it'd make her realize that the house wasn't that bad and that they were lucky her brother left it to them and that she had the presence of mind to live in the damn thing and not sell it like he specifically requested.

At the same time, something else gnawed it's way in and insisted in her mind _'Don't do it. That woman's only here to take away the little bitch before you've done what you really want to do to her. Tutor my ass, Francesca, you know it's a lie.. That little bitch reported you, she went to the cops with that cockamamie bullshit about you threatening her with a knife or that time she tripped down the s tairs but swore up and down you pushed her. Go kill that little bitch right now. Then kill the bitch on the other side of the door.'_

She snapped out of it when the woman spoke again and said "This would be a lot easier, ma'am if you let me in the house?" in a slightly annoyed tone. Francesca opened the door and stepped to the side, let the other woman in the house as she asked "Who sent you, huh?"

"Nobody. I offer my services to all the people who live in this neighborhood and the next one." the other woman lied easily and she hoped convincingly as she let her eyes roam the room she stood in. Right here in this hallway was when she got that cold feeling.. The one she should have listened to.

"You do have a daughter, right?" the woman asked, raising a brow at the other woman's unkempt and slightly stoned look. To each their own, she reasoned as she added mentally how she'd need at least a steady stream of Valium to even dream of living in this creepy as all fuck house.

She didn't even want to be standing here now but her friend begged her to at least come back and see if the monster was still here, that they didn't both imagine it. Her friend was dead now, the task clearly fell to her. And she intended to see it through.

"I do, yes. She's out with some friends I think." Francesca said as she asked "how much? To tutor her, I mean?" as the woman thought a moment and said "50 bucks a session seems reasonable enough to me. I'll come back later." and then she turned and jotted a number down on the notepad on the hallway table and practically ran from the place as fast as she could.

She didn't stop running or dare look over her shoulder until she'd gotten around the block and to her car's safety. And before she even got the door opened, the lights went out, she slumped to the ground as a scream, probably her last, froze on her lips.

The man stood above her, his arms crossed, a gas can in hand. "I hate liars." he muttered as he soaked the woman in gasoline, lit a match and walked away, as if he had not a care in the world. He laughed as the woman came to and began to scream, call for help.

"It's for her own good, the stupid bitch. She does not want to be in that place if it gets as out of hand as I think it will. And no way in hell am I having some college reporter snooping around, taking photos, asking questions and raising eyebrows. This has been a long time in coming and I'll be damned if I stop it from happening. There is no way I'm pissing off some upper level spirit at me, no sir.. Not Larry." the man babbled nervously before lighting a cigarette and flopping onto a bench a few miles away.

He really, really hated doing things like this. But sometimes, he had to do them.


	14. Chapter 14

**_{ A/N : Ohmigosh, thanks for the reviews! And for all the adds I've gotten since I posted the rewrite. You guys are amazing, all of you, and you are what keep me inspired. This chapter is meant to be an allusion to the fact that Nora might or might not be pulling the strings to get the baby that she wants. It's gonna be a little hot, but not all the way sex... yet.. If Tate's been ooc so far, sorry. I'm really trying, but I'm also working off my plot which is that he was partially coming to terms with (and regretting) what he did while alive because he fell in love with Violet.. So he's still a raving psycho, but love's made him more 'accepting' to a certain degree. And he's falling for Tess where as up until now, it was mostly just his being dominant, staking his claim. Kind of like they did on the actual show, with Violet.. But it's post Violet, if that makes sense. }_**

* * *

_Subtle Hints And Slight Scares  
_

Tess gaped at the tv screen as she paused in the archway that lead into their den. "Whoa.. When did they find a body about two blocks over?" she asked her mother, as usual, her mother looked up, blank look on her face and gave no actual indication that she heard her. She'd been doing that, the blanking out thing, a lot lately and that was really starting to worry Tess. A few moments later, Francesca answered her daughter and said quietly, "I have no idea." while getting a bad feeling in the pit of her stomach simultaneously.

To cover it up, she asked minutes later, "Weren't you going to spend the night with that girl? The one in your class? To go shopping?" as Tess shook her head and said "I was, but she got caught sneaking some older guy in, it was really, really stupid of her."

"You better not even think about it, Tess. I've noticed how much time you spend with Constance's son. It's cute, but you're only 17. Don't be in a hurry to.." as Tess plugged her ears and said "Mooooom, ughh, no. No sex talks. We agreed, remember? I know what I know, you don't need to tell me anything. Let's just stop this conversation now before it goes any farther." as her mother said "I was pregnant with you at your age, almost."

Tess bit her lower lip. She knew her mom was going out to a bar that night, for drinks with some of her coworkers and some of the models that were going to be modeling the designs she made. And like any other teenage girl with a boyfriend, she was going to sneak him in, at least.

Unlike any other girl, however, she had plans to seduce him. She'd made up her mind about Tate recently, despite what everyone seemed to think about her, despite what her mind kept telling her was totally wrong. He needed love. She needed him, he made her happy, made her angry, he watched her back. And she was starting to let him in.. A lot closer than she'd let a lot of other boys before.

It scared her, but she'd already fallen so far she didn't actually want to try and stop herself.

Not to mention, she'd just been feeling a lot friskier lately, they'd gone way farther than she'd ever actually let herself go before, and she wanted more now. He stopped them, usually, but she was getting sick of being all wound up and then having to calm down when he put the brakes on. It was driving her batshit insane.

"Did you hear me, Tess?" Francesca asked her daughter, snapping her fingers in the girls face as Tess blinked and said "Huh? Yeah, yeah mom.. Totally heard you. I'm gonna go upstairs and shower, maybe find a movie or something on."

"No Tate tonight?" her mother asked, a warning edge to her voice as Tess sighed then said quietly, "No mom, Tate probably won't drop by tonight. You can go have your drinks and be carefree." before starting up the stairs. Once she was in her room, her eyes settled on the black and pink striped bag from the lingerie store and she bit her lower lip as she muttered "Okay, here goes nothing." as she grabbed the bag and then walked into her bathroom, started to strip down, was about to step in the shower when she thought she saw something weird in the mirror for a split second.

She blinked and it was gone. She shrugged it off and peeled off the second skin fitting deep v neck t shirt, then her plaid mini skirt, then she wiggled her feet free from the engineer boots she wore, then the socks, kicking the pile in the general direction of the laundry hamper in the corner of the small bathroom.

When she looked up again, she could have sworn she saw her cousin Violet standing there, watching her with a raised brow, a slightly disappointed and worried look in her eyes. Then the image went blurry and disappeared. Again Tess shook it off. It was nearing the week that Violet died after all, in the hospital across town, when a stomach pump failed to get all of the heavy pills she had in her system out.

Maybe she just missed her uncle and her aunt and cousin. That had to be it.

She stepped into the shower, turning on the hot water, stepping beneath when it was good and steamy. After showering, she stepped out, grabbed for one of her bright pink and dark gray monogrammed towels, wrapping it around her. She stared at the black and bright pink striped lingerie bag and bit her lower lip, reminding herself that one way or another, he was either going to stop teasing her and then stopping, or this was going to happen. One way or another, something had to give.

"Guys seem to like this stuff." she muttered as she pulled the black lacy nightie out of the bag, then the fishnets and garters and matching panties that went to the nightie. She put the whole thing on and stood back, looking at herself in the mirror, laughing a little. "Girl he's gonna take one look at you and be totally turned off.. You might even lose your man tonight." as she bit her lower lip, pouted.

If she were prettier like her mom or her aunt Viv had been.. Or even Violet. No, she looked plain weird. Almost jade green eyes that were a little too big, a nose that she thought looked more like a beak than a nose, a pudgy and plain body.. Her hair though.. It was the one thing about herself she really, really loved. Her long black hair.

She was broken out of her daze by her mom calling up the stairs "Going out now, Tess. I mean it.. No boys over while I'm gone."

"Yeah mom, just go." Tess said as she waited for the sound of the door to shut, the security system to come on. She'd just stepped out of her bathroom, finally, and nearly screamed when she found Tate propped lazily on his elbows, looking through one of her Cosmopolitans and laughing at something he was reading in it, rolling his eyes.

Her legs went to rubber and she almost bolted back into the bathroom, -because up until now, it'd almost felt like someone else was controlling everything she did- before he looked up and dead at her, but then he did, a sort of smoldering look in his eyes as he bit his lower lip and looked her up and down, sliding off the bed, walking towards her.

"What's this about?" he asked with a raised brow as she asked nervously, "You don't like it?"

"Oh, I like it alright. Too much." Tate said as he tried to swallow the baseball sized lump in his throat right now while trying to also fight off the urge to pick her up, carry her to her bed and show her just how much he actually did like it by ripping it right off her.

But then he heard Nora's words _'One way or another, Tate.. You will get me a baby like you promised. I have my ways.' _and got a momentary sick feeling in his stomach. Could she actually possess Tess without Tess realizing it? She had been getting a lot bolder lately, when they'd get close to anything even remotely sexual happening..

"You don't like it.. Or I just totally grossed you out." Tess muttered quietly, looking down at the floor, embarassed beyond all belief. He tilted her chin up and asked in a commanding tone, "Why do you always assume that I'm grossed out by you?"

"Umm, maybe because I'm not even halfway as pretty as any of the other girls that go to Westfield?" she asked as he laughed and then said "So you're judging yourself against what? Coke whores?"

She bit her lower lip and he put his hands on her arms as he said "You.. Are so fucking sexy. You have no idea what you pulling shit like this actually does to me."

She pouted as she looked up at him and he ground his hips against her, she bit her lower lip as she started to back him towards her bed, he sort of just let her, only realizing what she'd done when the back of his knees brushed the mattress on her bed. He pulled her down into his lap and nipped at her lips, parting them as he leaned back, pulling her on top of him, deepening the kiss. She nipped at his lip and he groaned as his hand tangled in her hair, gave a slight yank as he said quietly, "You're not gonna stop until I cave, are you?" as his hand slid up the thigh length nightie's hem, and his lips bared down on her neck. She gasped as he thrust his torso against her again and said calmly, "Not like this."

"Damn it, Tate, seriously? I mean I'm beyond glad you're not like other guys, but I want this.. I want you. I don't get why you seem to think that's such a bad thing." Tess grumbled as she tugged at the waistband of his jeans impatiently. He looked up at her and happened to notice the odd blue tint to her eyes and sat up, stopping them totally.

"Not like this." he said firmly as she seemed to snap out of it and nodded quietly, looking at him. Her finger trailed slowly along his lower lip and she said quietly, " And I'm feeling really, really awkward right now." and went to stand. He grumbled and pulled her back down into his lap and then asked quietly, "Why?"

"Why what?" she asked as he asked her, "Why do you want me? I mean if you really knew me.. You wouldn't." which internally, something told her he was right, but as usual, where he was concerned, her heart overruled her common sense and she looked at him and said quietly, "Stop saying shit like that about yourself, okay? I want you, dumbass, because you make me laugh and you make me mad sometimes, you don't take my shit and you aren't afraid to tell me things I don't want to hear. You're honest and I actually feel safer with you." before sliding off of his lap and standing, turning to walk away from him.

Knowing she was obviously hurt, probably pouting while her back was turned to him, he grabbed her wrist and turned her around then picked her up, putting her back down on the bed. "Where the hell were you going?"

"To change, damn it. I feel like a fucking hooker." Tess said through gritted teeth as he sighed and leaned over her, she raised a leg, wrapping it partially around his hip as he attacked her lips and neck with biting kisses, leaving bite marks and at least two purple marks on her neck. "You didn't actually need this shit." he said calmly as she looked up at him and raised a brow. He smirked as he pinned her hands on the side of her head, so she couldn't move them, so he had complete control for now, just as he liked it. Then he did something he'd only actually done very few times before...

He looked her in the eyes and said quietly, "You really are sexy. And smart.. And funny, even if you're a smartass about it most of the time." while pulling her into another series of kisses. Which would have turned into more if the alarms on the house hadn't started all simultaneously wigging out and every window and door in the place opening and shutting as if something were pissed off or a hurricane force wind just ripped through the house.

"Stay here." he said as he stood, grabbed the knife she'd taken out of the kitchen and kept in the room with her because of the insane way her mother had been acting since they moved in. "Tate, no.."

"Stay here and stay quiet. I'm gonna go see who just got in past the god damn security system. No matter what you hear, Tess, stay up here." Tate commanded as he pulled her against him and gave her a quick kiss, leaving her standing in the room alone.

She walked into the bathroom and stared at herself in the mirror, grumbled as she stripped down, started to change into her usual silky pajama bottoms and camisole tanktop. When she looked back up the scream froze on her lips and she turned, but the hideous thing she'd seen in the mirror was gone. The scream finally came and when Tate ran back into the room, it was to find Tess on the bathroom floor in a faint.

He growled as he knelt down, made sure whatever had done the trick with the windows and doors and the alarms just now hadn't done something to her. He let out a breath when she still had a strong and steady pulse and picking her up, he carried her to her bed, laid her across it, then sat there, knife in hand, waiting.

He had a feeling that two people were behind the whole thing just now and one of them was Ben, stopping him from getting his hooks into Tess, his niece.. The other, he figured, was most likely that asshole Thaddeus and when he got his hands on Nora, he was going to definitely unleash his anger.

Especially if she was possessing Tess without Tess having any knowledge that it was happening.

Tess sat up and crawled into his lap as she said quietly, "I saw a.. A thing.. In the mirror." as he grumbled and then asked "You're okay, though?"

"I'm fine.. But when I figure out what I just saw was and why it was in my fucking house, I'm going to feel a lot better." Tess stated as he chuckled and stroked her hair a few moments.

The front door being banged on had him grumbling and then saying "I'm gonna go hide.. Cops and I don't get along.. Plus, your mom kinda hates me I think." before going into the bathroom, waiting.

Tess walked down the stairs and opened the front door, the tall dark skinned male on the other side, -also a spirit trapped on the property, but more or less one of the few 'good' ones- asked her, "The security company said the alarms went off here?"

"Wow.. that was, umm. That was fast." Tess stammered as she said "It's fine, I think something just ran through, a mouse or something maybe? I heard those systems are really, really touchy." while looking up at him hoping to hell he bought it and that the company hadn't called her mother.

"Are you here alone?" he asked as she said calmly, "Yeah, why?"

"maybe you should go to a neighbors." the man said as he scanned the area behind her, looking for that Tate kid that also hung around the house, trapped because he died on the property.

"I'm fine. I know how to shoot a gun, my mom has a handgun upstairs, actually." Tess lied as she looked at him, wished he'd hurry and leave.

Finally, he left and she ran back up the stairs, peeked into the bathroom. Tate looked at her with a raised brow and she said "The guy just wouldn't freaking leave. I'm sorry it took that long."

"Nosy bastard." Tate grumbled as he gave her a kiss goodnight and then made up some excuse about having to go home now before his mom busted him and retreating out the window, along the side of the house and into the basement. And as he figured, he couldn't find a single hint of Nora even being in her usual spot. Or Thaddeus.

And he didn't like it, not one little bit.


	15. Chapter 15

**_{ A/N : Ohmigosh, thanks for the reviews! And for all the adds I've gotten since I posted the rewrite. You guys are amazing, all of you, and you are what keep me inspired. I wanna thank every single one of you for that too. Because I originally didn't write beyond a few chapters, thinking everybody else's AHS fics were much better than mine. I'm honored that so many like this one.}_**

* * *

_If You Love Someone Fight For Them_

"Seriously, Mom. I'm sick of you downing him." Tess said as calmly as she could, while looking at her mother who pointed out, "Even his own mother says he's trouble. She oughta know." while sipping a glass of red wine. Tess glared and then said calmly, " And you think I'm gonna take **her** word for this, really? Mom, the woman lets her little boyfriend use him as a fucking punching bag! And she **knows** about it!" Tess stated as her mother said quietly, "You're getting close to the same age as I was when I had you, Tessa. Do you really want to be a mother at 17?"

"Nothing like that's happened. Actually, Mom, it might interest you to know, but I've actually tried getting him to go that far with me. He won't. He says it's not the right time or some shit like that. I'm starting to think that I'm not good enough or something." Tess muttered at the end, looking at her hands. Her mom groaned and then said "You should just wake up. He's pretending to be a good guy. Just like your father."

"Mom.. Uncle Ben was having a god damn affair.. And you still think he was a good guy, right?" Tess asked as she pivoted, looked at her mom with her hand in her hair, stubborn look of unmasked fury in her eyes. Her mother said through gritted teeth, "That's different. There were circumstances there."

"No, Mom, it's not." Tess countered as her mother said "According to the patient log he left in his office, Tess, this boy did very bad things."

"And so have I. Remember? That wreck? I could've **killed** that kid, Mom. All because I let my friends pull me into doing something I knew wasn't a good idea." Tess said through gritted teeth as her mother continued, "Either way, I don't think you should see him anymore. And if I catch you seeing him, Tess, behind my back.."

Tess rolled her eyes and leaned in, said calmly, "Good luck with that, Mom. I'm almost 18. I'm almost legally an adult. And then you won't have to deal with me anymore. Which is really what you wanted all along, isn't it? So try and stop me. I'm not scared of you or your threats or your weird and creepy habits lately, anymore." before storming out of the kitchen and up the stairs to her room, slamming the door so hard that her memory board fell off the wall and hit the floor.

She sighed as she heard her uncle telling her _'She's just worried about you, Tiny.' _and shaking her head, she started to take down her hair, brush it out. _'If you really knew him, Tess, if you knew what he did __to me, to your aunt, to Violet even..' _her uncle continued nagging insistantly as she tugged her hair and yelled "SHUT UP! FUCKING STOP NOW! YOU'RE DEAD!" before launching her brush at a full length mirror hanging on her walk in closet's door.

The lights flickered again and she grumbled as she walked into the closet, digging around mostly for some warmer pajamas, and the box fell off of the top shelf, landing by her feet. She bent down and dug through it, finding photos of Tate and a girl, one who looked like she had Downs Syndrome. She raised a brow and wondered why the photos would be here, not at his own house and who the girl was.

"It's Addie." Violet spoke up from behind her unexpectedly as Tess whirled around and gaped at her, color draining from her face.. "But you... I saw you, Violet.. I watched them bury you."

"And I am dead. And we really, really need to talk." Violet said as she flopped down on the bed, patted the spot next to her and waited.

"If it's about how bad he is, I don't wanna hear it, okay? So just save it." Tess argued as Violet shook her head and said quietly, "No, this isn't about that. He's not a good guy, but I can kind of tell you've got your mind made up already. I just.. I couldn't stay with him, not after everything he did came out."

"What did he do?" Tess asked quietly and Violet said simply, "That's for him to tell you. What I'm about to tell you is something my dad would literally kick my ass for telling you. He didn't want me doing this either, so I have to hurry." as Tess rubbed her eyes and said "Either this is a dream or I'm really, really, fucking losing it."

"The house has gotten to your mom. But it wants you." Violet said as Tess looked at her a moment, hand in her thick dark hair, confused. "It feeds off of young energy. It also feeds off of extreme emotions. That's how it got to your mom." Violet finished as she said "Tate is not the guy your mom thinks he is. But he's not the guy you think he is, either."

"Huh?" Tess asked, brows raised, shoulders stiff, starting to get a little more than tired of hearing everyone's warnings and advice about her choice to like a guy. "It's complicated... But it'll make sense soon. All I can say is that if he hadn't been here, I'd have died totally alone."

"He was here.. When you overdosed?" Tess asked, looking at her in confusion. Violet nodded and said quietly, "He found me.. He tried to stop me, to make me throw up the pills.. He tried to save my life. If he weren't a good guy, at least some of him, he wouldn't have. Because he could've been selfish and kept me with him, never told me what happened. I have to go now.. My dad's coming, he knows I'm here."

Before Tess could ask anything else, Violet faded from view and left her standing there, confused. What wasn't Tate telling her? Because it was obvious he wasn't telling her something, Violet hinted at as much just now. She started digging through the box and found nothing, naturally.

"It's just this house and my mood. I'm asleep and I dreamt the entire thing." Tess muttered as she flopped back onto the bed, exhausted.

She really had started to drift off when she heard pebbles being thrown up at her window. She slid out of bed, grumbling and rubbed her arms. The bedroom never seemed to stay warm at night lately, and she was starting to wonder if there wasn't actually something wrong with this house.

What her cousin said from her so called 'dream' earlier sort of made sense. The house seemed to 'react' more after she and her mother fought, and lately, more and more strange people had been stopping by, like the lady with the bright green eyes who gave her the necklace a few days ago.

Tate tumbled into the window and looked at her. He didn't have to say anything, he knew something was wrong and he pulled her against him as he asked "Are you okay?"

"Yeah, I just.. My mom and I were fighting about you earlier.. And then I think I fell asleep and had a dream about Vi.. It was weird, like we were actually talking, not arguing or something.. It seemed like she was trying to tell me something without saying it, but I can't really figure out what." Tess said quietly as Tate hugged her, rubbed her arms and asked "You cold?"

"Mhmm.. The damn thermostat is stuck again, I think." Tess shivered against him as she asked quietly, " Are you okay? You look worried." to which he shrugged and then said quietly, "Doesn't matter." before brushing his lips against her forehead. He knew now that Nora was using some kind of trick to control Tess, that's why she'd spent so much time trying to get him in bed lately. He also worried that what Nora was doing was going to have some weird adverse affect on Tess, and mess up her mind, and he'd fought with Nora about it earlier.

Nothing came of the fight, Nora was an older ghost, much angrier and more powerful than he'd previously imagined. But she'd told him that basically, she was getting the baby one way or another. And this worried him more than anything had. Because not only did he have to now deal with figuring out what the hell was going to happen at the house on or around Halloween, but he had to worry about Nora doing something to hurt Tess or her mother.

"It does, damn it." Tess insisted as she looked up at him and said quietly, "Talk."

"I kinda can't. Not yet." Tate said quietly as Tess looked up at him and nodded before asking quietly, "But you will.. Right?" while biting her lower lip. He nodded and said quietly, "Yeah.. When I can, I will. So.. What'd your mom say during the fight?" as he held her against him, looked down at her.

"Just that you've done really bad things.. Like, scary bad things. But I reminded her about some things I've done too. And I told her that she's not going to stop you from coming around, because I'm old enough to make up my own mind and I have." Tess pointed out quietly, not saying the words she wanted to, but sort of hinting at them. Tate looked at her and then asked quietly, "Yeah?"

"If I were going to walk away, Tate, I'd have fucking done it." Tess said calmly, she could tell that he was automatically writing her off like everyone else by the slightly hurt and angry look in his eyes. "But I haven't. So I'm not." she finished as he looked at her and managed a smile, warned her again "I'm not a good guy."

"And if I wanted a good guy, Tate, I'd fucking be with one, okay? You're good enough for me." Tess said as she looked at him, wondering if he'd feel the same way, or if he was actually just pretending like almost all the other guys she'd ever tried to date had to get in her pants.

He tightened his grip on her, almost as if he were hugging her, and pulled her into a kiss as he said quietly, "And you're probably too good for me." as she shook her head, arguing "No, I'm not.. There's stuff about me you don't know I don't actually talk about a lot of things. If I did, if you knew.."

"It wouldn't matter. Just like it didn't matter when you and your mom were arguing earlier about me. Right?" he asked as he looked at her. Of course, he'd heard the entire argument, he had to wonder if every living person on the block hadn't either, because it was loud and harsh.

So he knew what she'd said.

She loved him.

Not liked, not tolerated.. She actually loved him.

_'But Violet said that and she walked away when the truth came out.. What in the hell makes you think, Tate, that she's going to stick around too when you tell her that not only did you kill people, but you actually aren't living and you're a ghost, trapped here, in this house and you love her. How's that conversation gonna go, Tate?' _he thought to himself as he shoved the thoughts out for a while, and then said quietly "I love you." while holding her gaze intently.

"I love you." Tess repeated, mostly shocked that he'd said that, to her. That he wasn't bored with her yet, that she didn't disgust him, yet. Parts of her held out the fear that he would be bored with her soon and she'd regret getting so attached, but as most young people in love tend to, she shoved those thoughts out of her mind and pulled him into another kiss as she said quietly, "She scared me earlier."

"I know.. But you don't have to be scared, okay? Nothing's gonna happen to you. I won't let it. Even if it means.." Tate trailed off as she looked at him and asked "Means what?"

"Doing whatever I have to to make sure nothing happens to you." Tate said quietly as he looked at her, picked her up, carrying her over to her bed, sitting her down. "Are you really okay?" he asked again as she said with a small smile, "I think I will be. You showing up helped a lot."

He settled them back onto her bed and she held out the remote. "I'll watch whatever you want. I feel bad for making you sit through not only Frozen but Brave and Tangled."

"I didn't mind." he said as he laughed at her a little and then turned on the tv, smiling to himself. So now he knew she'd pretty much made up her mind, and she was choosing him. He just had to hope that stayed the same when he finally told her the truth, if someone else didn't beat him to it.


	16. Chapter 16

**_{ A/N : Ohmigosh, thanks for the reviews! And for all the adds I've gotten since I posted the rewrite. You guys are amazing, all of you, and you are what keep me inspired. I wanna thank every single one of you for that too. Because I originally didn't write beyond a few chapters, thinking everybody else's AHS fics were much better than mine. I'm honored that so many like this one.}_**

* * *

_Go Ahead, Ground Me_

"Go ahead, mother, ground me, but it will not stop me from seeing him." Tess said calmly as her mother sighed and said in a defeated tone, "Fine. Just don't make my mistakes. I hope Tate's worthy of all this rebellion." as Tess lingered in the entryway, hand on the stair rail, other hand in her hip as she bit her lower lip and said quietly, "If he weren't, Mother, I'd be giving in a lot easier." before walking up the stairs, shutting the door with force, knocking a few pictures off of her wall in the process. She'd just finished putting them back onto the wall when her door was knocked on and she heard Moira ask "Can I come in? I need to clean up a bit, I won't be in the way."

She opened the door and said quietly, "I know you heard that and I'm sorry. I'm just sick to death of her thinking I'll do what she did and throw my life away on some guy who doesn't deserve it or me. I gotta fight her or she'll start making all my choices for me. She just.. She does that lately and it drives me insane." Tess mumbled as Moira nodded and said in an observant tone, "Being a teenager isn't easy. Apparently, it's gotten no easier than it was when I was one myself."

"God, yes, I totally agree. I mean we have more things, we can do more without being looked at as if we're the worst kind of people, but.. We're still treated like babies yet expected to act as if we're adult." Tess mused as she flopped into the white leather chair at her vanity table, worked on taking down her hair, brushing it out and removing her makeup. She'd been thinking she'd get to go out for a little while, but her mother grounding her for no apparent reason just now kind of put a stop to that. To Tess's surprise, she wasn't entirely upset about being grounded.

She had ditched school to spend the day lying around in her room with Tate, watching movies, making out.. So yes, she deserved that and she wasn't denying she deserved her punishment. However, she wasn't going to just sit back and let her mother tell her not to love the boy she was falling in love with. "What was it like.. I mean when you were a teenager?" she asked Moira, their housekeeper, as she looked at the woman in curiousity. Moira sighed and with a laugh she admitted "I was quite the handful myself. Sneaking out all the time, going to these nightclubs, meeting older boys. I nearly drove my own mother crazy."

"Ahh.. But there wasn't ever that one guy? I mean you can't breathe around him because the air's so thick? And when he kisses your neck it makes your head spin, makes you feel as if you're about to free fall off of the Empire State Building?" she asked as she spun around in front of her mirror in time to a swing song, looking at the dress, a vintage one, that she'd been thinking of wearing to an upcoming 50's themed dance at Westfield High.

If, of course, her juvenile delinquent of a boyfriend didn't get 'grounded' again. It seemed to happen a lot when she wanted him to go somewhere with her. Sometimes, she worried that he was just ashamed to be seen with her, with a younger girl.. Or maybe he didn't really feel what she felt for him. Maybe he still loved Violet more or something.

It scared the living hell out of her that she could feel all that for a guy, at her age.

"There was, but he went off to war.. I kept my old ways, buried the pain." Moira admitted quietly as she sighed and then said "Your mother might be onto something about that Langdon boy."

"Or she's wrong. People deserve a chance, Moira, don't you think?"

"They do, but that boy.. He's had chance after chance and he's managed to squander them all, repeatedly. And he really hurt your cousin." Moira added, looking at the girl in concern. As usual, her warnings about Tate and his possible intentions fell on deaf ears. With a resigned sigh, she left the room and Tess slid the vintage dress on, twisting and twirling in front of the mirror, trying to imagine what it might feel like to slow dance with him at some cheesy high school dance.

If, of course, he didn't beg off or get into trouble and not be allowed to go. The upside was that it was on Halloween and he'd promised, he'd sworn to her that they would do something that didn't involve staying at her house for the night.

And she was definitely going to hold him to it.

Hands over her eyes had her about to shriek in momentary fear, but Tate leaned in and muttered "Where the hell do you think you're going?" as he looked at her in the dress, brow raised, trying not to laugh, feeling more than a little jealous.

"This is the dress.. For that dance? The one you swore you'd take me to? I mean unless you really are ashamed to be seen with me." Tess pouted up at him as he looked down at her, shook his head and said solemnly, "Why do you always think I'm ashamed of you?" eyeing her before pulling her into a kiss, asking her "Are you okay?"

"Just those damn dreams again. And my mom's bipolar mood shifts. One minute she's fine with me seeing you, the next, she's all concerned." Tess muttered as Tate said quietly, "Least your mom cares." which made her squeeze against him gently, look up and say "I care, Tate. That stuff your mom does isn't right. And I hate it when she makes you upset or hurts you."

"I'll be fine." he muttered, looking at the wall as he bit his lower lip. The air in the house was almost twice as tense as it had been the last time he'd gotten close to someone and halloween neared. This time, it was sort of scary, because he hadn't wanted to fall for Tess and he was afraid Nora had something up her sleeve where Tess was concerned. About his promise to her, getting her a baby to replace Thaddeus.

His defenses were at an all time high, so he eyed her carefully, breathing easier when he realized that she wasn't wearing the damn locket that seemed to make her want to take him to bed, that made her act less like herself, more like someone being controlled by an outer force.

He knew now that Nora was possessing Tess, he'd overheard his mother's psychic friend and his mother whispering to Tess's mother about the necklace being a 'bad gift', and that Tess didn't need to be wearing it.

They didn't explain what was going on or why, just that the necklace was 'bad.' And thankfully that had been enough for Tess's mother, Francesca to hear. She was neurotic, Tate noticed, it didn't take much for the woman to get completely crazy with worry.

"Are you okay, Tate?" Tess asked as he nodded and coughed, said quietly, "Yeah.. That dress.. Blue looks good on you." while eyeing her intently, licking his lips. She giggled and nuzzled against him and said in a whisper, "It does not."

"It does, damn it." he insisted as they heard her mother walking up the stairs. He dove into the closet, Tess called through the door, "What? Forget to take something away when you grounded me?" in a hurt tone as her mother turned the knob on the door and stepped into the room, strange look in her eyes. "Did you hear something, just now?"

"No, Mom. Not a thing, why?"

"Stay in here. Do not come downstairs, no matter what you hear going on.. There's someone outside, he's being really weird."

"It's not that Larry asshole, right?"

"Nope.. I have no idea who this guy is. He insists that he lived here once and he wants to see the house. But something about him.. It wasn't right? I don't know.. Either way, I've pressed the alert on the security button, the cops should be here soon." her mother whispered as the door was banged on downstairs and a man called through the door, "Francesca, c'mon.. Don't you remember me? We went out. I came all this way to see ya."

"I thought you said, Mom.." Tess asked as Francesca bit her lower lip and muttered "Just stay up here, trust me. If he sees you.." before practically running out of the room and down the stairs. Tess walked to the closet, peeking in. Tate yanked her in and asked "Who the hell is that guy?"

"Was it just me or was my mom acting crazier than the usual?" Tess asked as Tate stood and kissed her, said firmly, "Stay right here. I'm gonna go down and check it out."

"Tate, my mom just said... And if she sees you, I'll never get ungrounded. Not now, not with the mood she's in.. And it might be worse than her grounding me this time.. She reeked of alcohol."

"I know, Tessa. Stay put, god damn it. I'll be back." he said as he left her in the closet and ran down the back staircase, to the basement. If he could get the guy down here, he could get an advantage. He wasn't worried about anything other than keeping Tess safe, making sure her mom was okay too in the process. He heard the man and decided to stall, knocking a lamp down, making her mother leave to go see what had fallen.

When he did, Tate walked out into view and stared down the man in the doorway, amused smirk on his face as he said "If I were you, man, I'd leave."

The guy laughed and Tate shrugged before pulling out the poker from the fireplace behind his back, bashing the man over the head with it. He chuckled to himself as he worked on dragging the guy down to the basement. "Told you, man, leave. If you'd just fucking listened." he said quietly as he pulled the man into the room Dr. Montgomery used as his home 'office' and slammed the door shut, blocking it with a book case.

He heard Tess's mother shouting from the stairwell and she called out "Tate?"

"It's me, yeah. Get Tess and get outta here. Go wait on the security guys at my mom's." Tate called out as Francesca bit her lower lip and thought about it a moment, wondering what the boy were intending on doing, and just how close Tess came to seeing her real father just now, the madman that he was. She took a deep breath and ran up the stairs, into Tess's room.

"We've gotta go. Now." she said as Tess studied her a moment, then realized her mother wasn't being funny, she was being serious. As the sirens filled the night, the two females ran to Constance's house, standing in her living room, watching their house.

"Who was that, Mom?"

"Someone you really, really didn't need to meet, Tessa." Francesca muttered as she said quietly, "And that Tate boy.. He might have saved our lives tonight. Let's go make sure he's alright. Do you want to come too, Constance?"

Constance shook her head and said quietly, "No, don't suppose I do. I'll make sure he's okay when he's home." Tess glared at her and then said "Fine. I'll make sure he's not hurt. At least someone loves him." before storming out, door slamming in her wake.

"I do love my son.. He just scares me too." Constance admitted to Francesca who nodded in agreement. She asked seconds later, "Who was that man, Francesca?"

"Someone my little girl will never know about. Ever. That man, Constance, was her real father.. And he's actually criminally insane. I didn't know it then, but I found that out really, really quickly. Tell me my men radar isn't shitty, huh?"

"Mine too." Constance admitted as Francesca nodded and said "Thank your son for me. If I don't see him there, I mean. He's a sneaky guy, in and out." laughing a little to attempt lightening the mood.

Across the road, Tess looked around in the crowd of neighbors and other people passing by, security team, but she didn't find him. Her heart lurched for a moment, but then she caught sight of him sitting out of sight in the back yard, ran over, hugging him. "You fucking scared me, Tate. Don't do it again,damn it."

"Can't make any promises, Tess.. I'm kind of a scary guy, remember?" he retorted, letting her hug against him, smirking at the warmth in her embrace.


End file.
